Cold Cape Cod Clams, 'Gainst Their Wish Do It
by imaginarybird
Summary: Unwilling and unable to face everyone on her own when it comes time to attend Auggie and Ava's wedding, Riley Matthews hires a solution in Lucas Friar. Loosely based on The Wedding Date. AU.
1. Chapter 1

Obviously, this is an AU and it takes place in the future. The characters are adults. While I'm not someone who will ever write smut, and I don't plan on getting particularly graphic with language or even implications, the vary nature of this story is a bit more adult than what I've written previously. I feel I've rated it accordingly, but if this is something that isn't your cup of tea, I'd leave now.

Otherwise, enjoy!

* * *

The invitation comes on a Wednesday and Riley immediately considers throwing it in the trash and pretending she never got it.

It's not that she hasn't known it would be coming-Auggie had told her about the engagement weeks ago and asked her to be what he called his 'Best Sister'-but receiving the invitation makes it real. Auggie and Ava are getting married, they're holding the wedding in Cape Cod, and Riley is expected to join them and the family for a week of wedding festivities at the end of the summer. Riley could just about throw up at the thought. It's really the sort of scenario she's been trying (semi-successfully) to avoid since high school graduation nearly eleven years ago, and if the invitation were from anyone else she probably would crumple it up and pretend it got lost or RSVP with an easy lie about not being able to get the vacation time at work, but this is for Auggie.

The only acceptable reason for Riley not to attend would be massive injury and/or death.

With a resigned sigh, Riley clips the invitation up onto the fridge. She has to go. She's already agreed and Auggie will be devastated if she goes back on her word. Still, in her heart of hearts, she knows the whole thing will be an unmitigated disaster.

Maybe she'll be abducted by aliens before September.

* * *

"Ava wanted me to remind you that she wants heartfelt speeches only at the reception, no jokes or embarrassing stories. And she said if you want to submit a draft for her to look over and give you notes on, which, I'll be honest, is less of a suggestion than it sounds like, you need to do it by Friday at noon and not a moment later."

Riley rolls her eyes, cradling her cell phone between her shoulder and her ear as she pulls her street clothes out of her locker; Ava is a controlling bride, and it's absolutely not a surprise. It's actually a relief that Ava has stayed true to character. At least Riley knows the girl will have no truck with anyone causing trouble during any of the wedding festivities and stealing her thunder. With Ava's domineering personality being well-known and feared throughout the Matthews' family, everyone will, in all likelihood be on their best behavior. Which doesn't make going seem any less intimidating and dreadful, but at least it will help provide a small layer of security. "Duly noted."

"And to remind you that since Uncle Josh is handling my bachelor party, she wants you at her bachelorette party instead." Auggie says.

"That depends on the rest of the guest list." Riley answers primly, kicking off her shoes and starting to change. She'd normally shower here before getting changed, but since she'd happened to catch her brother's call as she'd gotten into the locker room, she'd just shower when she got home.

Auggie sighs. "Maya's coming to the wedding with Josh. If you're not going to do things that she's at you'll miss the entire thing."

"I wasn't asking about Maya. I was asking about mom."

"She's gonna be at the whole wedding too."

One of the many facts that Riley's not looking forward to but has accepted that she can't change. "No, you dork!" If they weren't separated by a phone line (and in fact across the country from each other), Riley would shove Auggie's shoulder. "I meant, Ava is having a Pleasure Party for her Bachelorette, and I'd rather be stuck smoking cigars and playing cards with you and the rest of the Matthews Men then find out any details about what my mother likes in a sex toy."

Auggie's groan of disgust is definitely worth it. "I'll tell her that's a 'maybe' pending more information."

"Wonderful. Anything else I can do to soothe the bride-to-be's nerves?

"Well, she wanted me to ask you why we haven't gotten your RSVP yet."

Riley nearly rolls her eyes again. "Because I've agreed to be _in_ the wedding. My RSVP is implied."

She hears some muffled conversation on the other end of the line; Auggie is obviously talking to Ava with his hand half over the receiver, so she finishes changing while she waits for his return to the call.

"Ava says she needs an official RSVP anyways. She needs your choices for the food for the caterer, and she needs to know if you're going to be bringing a plus-one." Riley freezes at the notion, but she manages to control her breath so Auggie doesn't notice and he keeps talking. "I told her that you're not seeing anyone but she insisted that you might bring Zay, or that you might be seeing someone that you haven't told me about and you might want to bring him so my say-so wasn't good enough."

Riley's mind races to contemplate her options. Desperate to avoid facing her family and childhood friends alone, her first thought had been bringing her best friend and roommate, Zay, with her as an escort; unfortunately his career is starting to take off and he's simply unavailable when he would be needed. She's _not_ seeing anyone (her love life having remained stalled other than a handful of ridiculously terrible first dates ever since her official break up with Charlie Gardner in their junior year of high school) so left without a boyfriend, and lacking the options of available friends, her only real choice is to attend alone.

Not ideal, but it won't be the first time she's dealt with her family on her own.

Except…

Auggie had just said it. Maya will be attending with Josh. And in all likelihood, the attendees will also include innumerable other figures from the past that she's tired of presenting the same life story to, and hearing the same not-so-whispered comments and judgements. In the past it would happen over the course of a couple of hours at a dinner or a party and then she could find an excuse and retreat for another five years before putting herself through it again, but this will be an entire week. Carefully planned and scheduled and filled to the brim with activities that she has no choice but to attend and facilitate as Auggie's 'Best Sister'.

She can't face that alone.

Riley's not entirely sure what she's going to do to make it happen, but the lie is falling out of her mouth before she can stop it. "Actually, Ava's right. I have been seeing someone."

* * *

A week later, and a full day and a half before she has to board her flight to Boston to get to the wedding, Riley finds the solution to her non-existent boyfriend dilemma.

"Hey, I need you to give me a call around 1:00 today." She announces, leaning in the doorframe of Zay's bedroom. Her best friend is sitting on the bed, slipping on socks and shoes before he heads to work for the day, so she's lucky she caught him. "You don't have to say anything special, I just need to have a call in case I need an out."

Zay stops pulling on his shoe, and looks up at her raising an eyebrow. "What for? You got a blind date or something, Sugar?"

Riley looks askance briefly under the scrutiny. "Or something."

"What? Did you finally decide to stop waiting for a grocery store meet-cute and venture into the world of online dating?" Riley doesn't know how to answer that, but she starts to blush and Zay gets a wicked grin on his face as he continues to probe. "Don't tell me Little Riley Sunshine has gone straight into the deep end and made herself a Tindr date. How will her innocence survive?"

"I'm not that innocent and you know it." Riley crosses her arms over her chest. "And I'm not going on a date at all, for your information. It's more like a...a business meeting." In that money will be exchanged and if she understands the information she read on the website correctly a contract will be signed, but that's neither here nor there, and absolutely _none_ of Zay's business.

The pointed expression on Zay's face tells her that he doesn't buy that one bit. "A business meeting that you might want an excuse to leave? And just moments ago you practically compared to a blind date?" His eyes and grin both slowly start to widen. "Riley Eleanor Matthews, are you meeting with an escort!?" The last word comes out in a heightened whisper.

Riley doesn't answer, choosing silence over either confirming or trying and failing to deny the accusation, but Zay takes the silence as confirmation anyways.

"Oh my god, you are! I can't believe this. My sweet little Riley," he claps a hand to his chest, wiping a fake tear away from his eye, "going to visit a male escort. How will we survive the scandal?"

"First of all, there will be no scandal, because no one is going to find out." Riley says, quite firmly. It's really a foolproof plan, if she does say so herself. She doesn't use social media for posting any personal updates so there's no evidence to the contrary that the man she's found _isn't_ her boyfriend, and every article and review she had found on the service she had stumbled across was full of praise at the level of 'boyfriend experience' the escorts were able to provide; as long as this initial meeting goes well (and for a somewhat shameful amount of money), she'll have a doting companion for every moment of wedding festivities and everyone will stop seeing her as the unfortunate girl who never got past what happened in high school. That's two wins for the price of a major dent in her bank account. She can live with that. "I just need someone to bring to Auggie's wedding since you're not available, and this is the perfect solution." She explains why it's a great plan. "And it's not like he's a prostitute or anything."

"Sugar, I am not passing any judgement. You can do what you want to do with your money and I am all for a plan that makes sure you're not going back to deal with those people on your own. But in what universe is a male escort not a prostitute?"

"It says right on the website, 'Outside of the occasional chaste kiss, sexual encounters of _any_ nature are strictly forbidden. Our fees cover solely emotional companionship.'"

Zay shakes his head, chuckling. "Oh Riley. My sweet, innocent, beautiful Riley… You know they put that to cover their asses, right? Because technically speaking, money for sex is illegal and having that on their site keeps them mostly out of trouble. You know, unless a scandal breaks."

"Oh god." The floor falls out from beneath Riley's stomach. "I'm having lunch with a prostitute."

* * *

Riley white-knuckles her drink while she waits for her lunch companion. She'd been very tempted to cancel the entire thing, cash in the second plane ticket she had bought and just suffer the embarrassment of showing up to the wedding alone, but with some well placed arguments and the decision to cease teasing her, Zay had convinced her that meeting with the guy couldn't hurt.

" _Just because he has sex for money, doesn't mean that if you give him money he has to have sex with you. This is a business transaction. If outline your needs and expectations clearly, that's all that will happen. Otherwise it wouldn't be very good business."_

So she's at the little sidewalk cafe, resisting the urge to order something stronger than water, and silently wondering if every guy under the age of fifty that walks past is going to be the one who recognizes the agreed-upon signal of a daisy pin near the collar of her sweater. So far, two minutes past the scheduled meeting time, no one has approached.

Maybe he got a better offer and he's standing her up. Or he came and saw her and decided there's no way he could make it work.

Both options are upsetting in their own way, and Riley's so caught up in her own paranoia and feeling conflicted about being a little disappointed if he's really not coming that at first she doesn't notice the tanned, sandy blond approaching her table. Right up until he's standing directly in front of her. "Hi, you must be Riley." He holds out a hand. "I'm Lucas. We've been e-mailing the past couple of days."

Riley's eyes scan up his body-muscular in a way made obvious by the way his green t-shirt stretches across his chest-right up to a handsome smile and the softest, most gorgeous set of green eyes she's ever seen, and her mouth goes completely dry.

She doesn't remember seeing anyone _this_ good looking among the profiles on the website.

"Y-yes." She struggles to swallow around her sudden onset of cotton mouth. She does manage to rise from her chair and shake his hand, hoping that she's only imagining the sweat that might have sprung up on her palm.

Lucas' smile shifts in a small way that Riley can't quite place as they sit back at the table. "This is the first time you've done something like this, isn't it?"

"Is it that obvious?" As she asks the question, her wrist bumps into her water tipping the glass over the edge of the table.

Lucas catches the glass as it topples, although the water still sloshes out, and he chuckles softly as he answers. "Only a little." He pauses to set the now empty glass back down. "But there's no need to be nervous. This is just a first meeting. A chance for us to get to know each other a little bit, and to talk about what you're hoping to get out of this if we move forward. Nothing's going to happen today, or at all if you don't want it to."

The waitress comes back to refill the water and get Lucas' drink order. When she leaves, Lucas looks to Riley, obviously waiting for her to step and say something, but she can't even manage that. Her nerves are at a high, still reeling from the fact that she's meeting with an actual escort (even if she had had the opportunity to change her mind and cancel but hadn't taken it) and that he's quite possibly the most attractive guy she's ever seen outside of a movie screen. He's the sort of guy that never even looks twice at her and at the moment the entire thing is feeling a bit...much.

"Would it help if I did the talking first?" He asks, taking pity on her. When Riley nods, he continues. "OK. Well, since you're new to this and a bit nervous, how about we see if this is really something you think you'll be up for? I can tell you a bit about my packages-,"

"You have more than one?!" Riley squeaks, unable to stop herself from glancing down towards his lap, even with the table blocking her view.

Lucas' laugh is a bit more obvious this time. "My _experience_ packages. You know, 'The Doting Boyfriend' package, the 'Dad's Worst Nightmare' package...those sorts of things. I accompany people to all sorts of different events for any number of reasons. How I act, both with you and the people around us, can be tailored for that."

"Oh. Right." Riley starts to fiddle with her napkin, just to have something to do; if she doesn't look at him, she doesn't have to see him noticing her embarrassment and taking pity.

"Now, from your e-mail, it sounds like you're primarily looking for some backup for this wedding of your brother's, right?"

"Yeah. A week in Cape Cod with my family."

"And you don't get along with a lot of the people there, but you're not really interested in freaking them out, right? You just don't want to be alone all week."

Riley agrees, feeling some of her nerves inch back. At least two of them. There's something about Lucas that has a soothing presence. Even from across the table, he comes off as steady and calm-someone that's there for her. She supposes that's part of him being a professional.

"Then I would probably suggest a variation of the doting boyfriend. We could agree on the pertinent details when we're travelling, but essentially I'll be your boyfriend. Your very loving, caring, supportive boyfriend, who takes care of you as much as you require the entire week, and runs interference between you and the people you don't want to deal with."

"You really do that?"

"As long as it's legal, I do what's required to make a client happy." Lucas nods.

As long as it's legal...Riley wonders if that means if the disclaimer on the website is actually true, but she doesn't ask. Instead she thinks about what's actually on the table. A week where she'll be on the arm of the _very_ good looking guy sitting in front of her, and he'll be doing his job which is to make her look good, and keep her comfortable and happy. She has to wonder, can she get over her nerves and play along with the game? Does she want to?

Riley pictures what it will be like, staying true to everyone's expectations and showing up in Cape Cod tomorrow alone. Then she imagines showing up with Lucas on her arm, and finally getting to lay some of the perpetual assumptions and rumors about her to rest. Even if it's only pretend, only she and Lucas will know that. And the temptation of that moment of satisfaction, and of having _someone_ by her side and looking out for her (even if she is paying him to do it) is too great to pass up.

"That sounds...fantastic."

"So you want to move forward?" Lucas asks, his smile taking on that unfamiliar quality once more.

Riley's fairly certain that if she weren't already seated, she'd swoon. Resolving to work on that before they officially start putting on a show at the wedding festivities (being swoon-worthy is pretty much his job after all, and not at all indicative of how he feels about her), she matches his smile and nods. "I do."

"Great. We can work on the contract and get to know each other a bit better after we order."


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone, thanks for reading Part One, sending in your comments, liking, reblogging, whatever you did! It really means a lot to me that you enjoyed what I have so far, and I'm looking forward to writing more and sharing with you.

I'm going to be on vacation from Wednesday through the end of the week, so Part Three may be a little slower in coming. I'll try to write when/where I can, but I just might not have much of a chance for a few days.

In this installment, Riley opens up to Lucas a bit, they arrive in Cape Cod, and Lucas meets Auggie.

* * *

"So tell me," Lucas says, pushing his laptop shut and angling towards Riley in the confines of their airline seats, "what sort of lion's den am I going to be walking into when we get to the Cape?"

Riley closes her magazine and looks at her companion. They're well into the flight, somewhere over the Midwest and having already spent a fair amount of time chatting and deciding on some more relevant pieces of the story they're going to tell people they've been doing their own thing. She's been pretending to read while her mind is preoccupied with thoughts of the coming week and he's been doing something on a laptop that she hasn't tried to look too closely at, not wanting to be seen as nosy.

For all the 'getting to know you' chatting they've done so far, the topics have been centered around her; Riley's not sure if it's a matter of professionalism or just who Lucas is as a person, but he hasn't shared much about himself, even something as minor as his favorite color. He insists that if anyone at the wedding asks about him, she can improvise and he'll go along with it. No matter the reasoning, Riley figures he clearly values his privacy and doesn't want to violate his trust.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you didn't lie to your brother about having a date and hire me just for the fun of it." Lucas clarifies. "The whole thing obviously makes you nervous. But the the thought of going to this wedding alone worries you more. And I want to help you with that, but I have to know what I'm helping _with_."

"It's...complicated." Riley equivocates, not wanting to delve into the whole sordid tale. She knows there's little point in keeping it secret-Lucas surely sees her as just another overwrought client that he has to put up with to earn his living-but a part of her wants to spare herself the embarrassment and maybe have him see her as one of the nicer, more enjoyable clients. She can't even explain why she wants that when she has every intention to never see him again after this week, but she does.

"If it were simple you'd probably be on this flight alone right now."

Riley almost scowls at Lucas' gentle but matter-of-fact tone, but limits herself to simply sighing. It's not his fault that things are the way they are, and he's just trying to get the information he needs to do his job well. Maybe a few vague bits and pieces wouldn't hurt. Just so he'll know what to expect. "Let's just say, I'm not what my parents were hoping for in a daughter, and they aren't very good at pretending that I am."

"Your parents are disappointed that their daughter is a nurse in a pediatric emergency room?"

It should be illegal for a man's confused expression to be so attractive, Riley thinks.

"Does it also bother them that you brake for animals in the road?" Lucas continues. "And that you participate in the NPR and PBS pledge drives?"

She figures him getting offended on her behalf now is just him getting into 'character'. There's no other logical reason for him to be so bothered, even if he does think she's nice or something like that. He barely knows her, and he's never met her parents, so how could he possibly be sure enough in her assessment of the situation (and of his assessment of her for that matter) to start defending her? It has to be a part of the job.

"It's not my work that they don't like." She corrects. "It's that...they don't know how to relate to me I think? My dad used to, but the older I got the more my interests changed and the less he seemed to _want_ to deal with me. I don't think it's because he stopped loving me or anything but I think he couldn't navigate what having a daughter post-puberty meant. And my mom...my mom is this amazing lawyer. She's incredibly smart and strong; she's constantly helping people and changing the world. But I'm not a carbon copy of her and I don't think she could ever figure out how to connect with me. We shared some traits but our personalities are very different and the older I got the more obvious it was that she didn't think our differences were a good thing."

"That had to have been hard, not having a bond with the people who are supposed to love you unconditionally is one of the most painful feelings…"

Riley glances down at her tray table where she'd started folding the corner of her magazine cover back and forth during the conversation-just to give her hands something to do. "It's not even that. The story of my life is people not liking me for who I am."

"Even if that's the case," Lucas says, laying his hand on top of hers and stilling her fingers, "it's different when it's family. When it's your parents… It can't be easy."

It's the first time they've really touched outside of their initial meeting and a couple of moments as they walked through the airport where he guided her with his hand on the small of her back and Riley freezes. How can one hand on top of another-just his five fingers resting on hers and a small brush of his thumb-feel so intimate? Does he even feel that or is this just another rote gesture for him, like using antibacterial gel on her hands every time she enters an exam room is for her?

"You get used to it." Riley nearly moves her hand away to break the connection (it feels like at any moment the soft warmth could turn and consume her and then she'll be a goner) but stops herself, reasoning that she has to get comfortable with small gestures like this; this is how couples act and everyone at the wedding has to believe that they're a couple if this week is going to work. She settles for biting the inner corner of her lip and trying to disconnect herself from the sensation instead.

 _This is make believe. A business transaction, nothing more. Don't go falling for someone you can never have, Riley. It'll only hurt you._

"Maybe you do but…" Lucas' thumb sweeps across the back of her hand again, "you shouldn't have to, and I'm sorry you did."

Her inner monologue doesn't work. She can't look away from his eyes-his deep, green, sorrowful, lovely eyes- and what starts as a trickling shiver down her spine starts to feel more like a flood of hot tea. They sit, staring for one second, then two, and then Riley realizes he's waiting for her to say something.

Completely unsure of what to do, Riley pulls her hand back. "T-thanks." She undoes her seatbelt and stands, bending slightly to avoid hitting her head against the ceiling. "I, um, have to…" She points towards the back of the plane.

Lucas gets that smile on his face again as he rises to let her slide past him.

Riley mentally repeats her mantra a couple more times as she walks down the aisle and barricades herself in the tiny bathroom to give herself a few moments to get her head back on straight.

She is in so much trouble.

* * *

Thoughts of inappropriately falling for Lucas are out of Riley's mind by the time they're on the ground in Massachusetts and driving from the airport the hour or so it takes to reach Cape Cod. She attributes this to two things: 1) the plane was a confined space, whereas Lucas had suggested that they rent a sporty convertible for the week (' _If this week is about projecting a new image to your family, that car will paint one hell of a picture')_ allowing most of the tension to dissipate into the air as it arises and 2) the closer they get to the bed and breakfast where the wedding party and immediate family of the bride and groom will be staying, the further her mind drifts from thoughts of anything other than what's going to happen over the course of the week and how she's going to make it through, even with the help of Lucas.

There's a lot of unpredictability in play. She doesn't see any of these people very often anymore, hasn't outside of major holidays (and even those she sometimes skips these days) since the middle of her undergraduate degree; it was easier to move to the west coast for school and never look back.

Riley would love to think that she'll be able to go through the week invisibly, just popping into the forefront of activity when she's performing her wedding duties to Auggie and fading into the background the rest of the time, but she figures that her luck isn't _that_ good; a lot of her good fortune had to have been cashed in for her to have seemingly hit the jackpot on the escort front (she has to think that good-looking, interesting, guys that are not only respectful, but also manage to come off as genuinely caring have to be rare, even in the unfamiliar world of high end male escorts).

"What are you thinking?" Lucas' question draws her out of her thoughts and back to reality. They're well into one of the many beach towns on the Cape, she realizes, probably quite close to the B & B, but stuck in a substantial traffic jam, so Lucas is risking next to nothing by taking his eyes off the road to look at her.

"Just worrying about this week." Riley answers. "Who's gonna be here, what's gonna go wrong…"

Traffic inches forward, and Lucas turns his gaze back. "Do you do that often?"

"Do what?" Riley frowns. She's not _doing_ anything.

"Borrow trouble." He shrugs, like it's something obvious. "I know you don't have a great relationship with your parents but that doesn't mean something's gonna go wrong. And when you assume that it will...you're setting yourself up so that even if things go well, you'll be so tense that you won't get to enjoy it."

" _Something_ will go wrong." Riley shifts a little in her seat. When that doesn't ease her discomfort she reaches over to adjust the vent for the air conditioner. "It always does. Someone will say the wrong thing, or take something too far, or be upset because not everyone is happy enough for them and-," She cuts herself, realizing she hadn't intended to say the last bit. She shakes her head and starts to correct herself. "Something will go wrong, and inevitably, I'm the one who will be blamed. So I'd rather plan for that and be tense than hope for the best and be disappointed again when nothing changes."

Lucas doesn't say anything for a moment, taking the moments when traffic isn't moving to consider her carefully. When he finally speaks, it's soft and Riley can't assess his tone. "You didn't even scratch the surface with what you told me on the plane, did you?"

"Like I said. It's complicated."

They don't say anything else for the rest of the drive.

* * *

"Riley-Ellie!"

"Auggie-Orrie!" Riley abandons getting her things out of the trunk of the rental car in favor of rushing her younger brother near the bed and breakfast's porch steps. She throws her arms around him and launches him up in a spin-their longstanding tradition, her worries temporarily forgotten in the face of the reason for the trip. _This_ part of the trip she's more than happy to deal with. "How does it feel to be an almost-married man?" She asks, lowering Auggie back to the ground. "Is she driving you crazy yet?"

"It's a-maz-ing." He grins, every inch the dramatic boy he always has been. "I can't believe we finally made it to the wedding week. And with none of the nightmares of a typical Matthews Marriage."

"There's still time." He was, of course, referring to the pattern that had started with their parents. Their wedding had nearly been a disaster several times over from meddling relatives, a massive fight between the groom and his best friend, and of course Uncle Eric stealing the venue and reception out from under an unsuspecting diaper tycoon. Then Aunt Morgan's wedding had ended up with her being left at the alter. After that, Uncle Eric had tried his hand at marriage to have the whole thing wind up under a mandatory evacuation order due to severe weather and flood risk. Uncle Josh's nuptials hadn't experienced any of the bad luck of his siblings but he had eloped and Riley knew her grandmother considered being left out of the big day as big of a fiasco as anything her other boys had been through (Morgan being dumped the day of was, of course, in a class all it's own).

"I figure the curse will end with me." Auggie says, quite confidently. "I have something that the rest of the family didn't."

Riley quirks her eyebrow. "Yeah, what's that?"

"Ava Morgenstern."

He has a point. Ava had been strong-willed at age six and had only grown more self-assured as they got older. She had standards for everything that she did, and woe be to the person who stood in the way of her exceeding them. It's entirely possible, Riley thinks, that if Ava decided she wanted a sunny day for her wedding and a cloud appeared in the sky, that the girl would simply plant herself in place to glare up at the sky and will the cloud into retreating.

"Well, you've got me there." She concedes, smirking and glancing down the wraparound porch. "Where is my future sister-in-law?"

"One of her bridesmaids stumbled at graduation so she is hosting a pre-rehearsal walk-down-the-aisle-in-your heels practice session before she has to get back here for the big family welcome dinner."

Again, not exactly out of character for Ava. "You mean the high school graduation that happened three years ago?"

"The middle school one, actually. Ava has a long memory." Auggie says matter-of-factly. "But enough about that." He taps her shoulder. "How are you? How was your flight? Where is this mysterious boyfriend that you never once mentioned until all of a sudden you were bringing him here?"

Riley knows he's only really asking the last question; he cares about the other stuff too, but they talk all the time, so the sticking point for him is definitely that she _hasn't_ ever talked about Lucas before. Auggie will be the hardest sell of the weekend, not only because he knows the most details of her life to poke holes in her story, but because he's always been suspicious of her suitors and protective of her. She'll have to be careful to be as normal as possible around him.

"I'm fine, the flight was long, and Lucas is getting our things out of the car." She jerks her thumb over her shoulder towards the parking lot. She can't help but glancing over her shoulder as she does so. Playing it cool might be the best option to lower any suspicions but she's never been very good at it. Her nerves always manage to take over.

Auggie follows the gesture and blinks. "The blond guy in the jeans and the smedium t-shirt?"

"Yeah."

"The one pretending it takes more than thirty seconds to take two bags out of the trunk of a _ridiculously_ beautiful sports car?"

"Uh-huh."

"The one who looks like he was ripped from the cover of American Apple Pie Boy's Next Door?"

Not exactly how she would have put it but she can't exactly deny the resemblance is there. "That's the one."

"Are you sure?"

"Auggie!" Riley smacks lightly at her brother's shoulder.

He dodges, laughing. "I'm sorry, but I watched a lot of guys flirt with you when you were pulling shifts at the bakery and whenever you were into it, it was not with the guys that looked like that." He waves his hand up and down. "That is not the sort of guy you go for. I know I haven't seen him without a shirt off or anything but I'm pretty sure his abs have abs."

Riley's not sure how she's supposed to respond. Partially because Auggie is right-she has never dated or even seriously flirted with a guy that's so blatantly handsome and athletic; Charlie had been her first serious relationship and after him it had taken her a long time to even _want_ to flirt and date again. It had taken even longer to start tackling the resulting self-esteem issues, a problem that, if she's being honest with herself, she's still working on. She's never really been sure that guys who look like Lucas are genuinely interested in her so it's always been easier to treat them as if they aren't and stick with other types of guys.

She's also at a loss because she _also_ has never seen Lucas without his shirt off. Which sounds incredibly stupid, she knows, but the moment Auggie mentions it, Riley realizes that the status of Lucas' abdominal muscles is almost definitely something that she should be aware of. After all, as far as everyone else is concerned, she and Lucas have been dating for several months.

And for all the planning she and Lucas have done, discussing the details of the nature of their fake relationship like where they met and where he took her on their one month anniversary, they have not really talked about whether or not they've taken any kinds of steps as a fake couple where she really would be privy to the what sort of torso he is barely concealing beneath his t-shirts.

"Yeah, he is really... _really_ muscular." It seems like a safe enough comment; anyone with eyes can tell that the man has muscles, even when he has his shirt _on_.

"Who's that?"

Riley nearly jumps out of her skin in the split second it takes for her to realize that the smiling voice near her ear and the arm snaking around her waist belong to Lucas, but when she reaches her conclusion she manages to tamp back her reaction to something that she hopes is a bit more appropriate for being joined by one's boyfriend. She still stiffens in surprise, but manages to release most of the tension and ease back into the embrace with a nervous giggle. "You."

Being this close to Lucas, there's really no question: with or without his shirt, he has a _very_ healthy form. Riley swallows.

"I don't think I'm that-,"

"You are." Riley and Auggie cut off Lucas' protest in unison, then share a grin.

"Well I'm not gonna argue the point too strongly." Lucas says. He glances between the two siblings. "Did I take enough time getting the bags out of the car for you two to catch up or do you need me to go back?"

"Nope, you're perfect." Riley answers and then realizes what she said. She blushes and peers briefly at the ground, even as Lucas threads the fingers of one hand with hers and squeezes gently. She supposes that's probably meant to be reassuring and a message that they're doing OK but it's just another reminder of how bizarre and out-of-character this situation is; she doesn't do this sort of close contact with people she's known forever, and yet here she is with a practical stranger. And not hating it. Struggling to figure out what to say and how to act the part, but not hating it. "I was just about to tell Auggie about you. Auggie, this is Lucas. The guy I've been seeing."

Lucas doesn't let go of her hand, merely uses his other hand to reach over and greet Auggie and offer his congratulations on the wedding. "You know, Riley's told me so much, it's great to finally meet you."

"Likewise." Auggie nods. "I mean, Riley hasn't told me very much at all. Nothing actually. But it's always fun to meet the guys who manage wiggle their way into her life."

Auggie is supposed to be the easiest part of the week, but at the shrewd look on her little brother's face, Riley is starting to think that while it may be on a different front from the rest of the family, he might be just as much trouble.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry this took me a little bit longer than anticipated between vacation and then fighting to get the dynamics just how I wanted them… My best guess is that this sort of wait is what you can approximately expect for updates as we move forward.

Thanks to everyone who has read, reblogged, commented, liked…whatever you've done to support the fic. It means the world to me. And just a reminder, I'm more than happy to chat about this or any of my other fics if you pop into my inbox. I promise I'm friendly.

In this installment, Riley and Lucas are late to dinner, there's some hand-holding, and Riley has a small chat with her dad.

* * *

"It went _fine_." Lucas repeats his assurance with a sigh. It's only the umpteenth time since they had officially checked into their room that he's said something similar but it doesn't do anything to stop Riley's frenzied work at unpacking her things and getting everything in the room set up 'just so', something he is almost positive is a manifestation of her nerves over the whole week.

Of all the clients he's had since he started working as an escort, Riley is definitely the biggest bundle of nerves and insecurities.

She's also the prettiest, but Lucas really does his best to make sure he's not actively thinking about that; it has nothing to do with the job and thinking like that is one of the fastest ways to start forming attachments. Not a good business practice.

"How can you say that?" Riley asks, hanging some of her clothing up in the room's wardrobe. "I was completely flustered…"

"A lot of people get flustered when they're introducing a new partner to their families. It didn't suddenly seem strange because it was you doing it."

Riley counters his explanation quickly. "Auggie was eyeing you with suspicion the whole time."

Lucas has to school his reaction carefully; the seriousness with which Riley makes the statement, looking at him pointedly through the tops of her eyes while arranging a suit on a hanger makes it clear that this is no laughing matter to her, and he's fairly certain she won't take kindly to any sort of laughter or smirking on his part, no matter how cute her concerned expression is. "As your brother, he thinks it's his job to look at any guy you bring home with suspicion. Trust me, he doesn't actually suspect anything."

"But how can you possibly know that? You met him half an hour ago."

"I know because normal people don't just assume that the guy their sister is dating is actually a hired escort."

"Oh." Riley's expression drops into a softer blush and a nervous giggle. "Right." With her clothing hanging safely in the wardrobe and logic temporarily poking a hole in the haze of her apprehension she's left standing there, seemingly unsure of what to do.

Lucas, having already taken care of his unpacking as well, watches her. He watches her chew carefully on the corner of her lip, and he watches her bounce and rock on her heels, and he watches her gaze move from her mostly empty suitcase, to the doors leading out to the room's small balcony, to him, to the room's bed. The room's one and only queen-sized bed that Riley has been edging carefully around and inspecting every time she thinks he's not looking.

Knowing what little that he does about her, Lucas is certain that Riley is not only nervous about being around her family for the wedding and the whole hiring a fake boyfriend thing, she's quite possibly petrified over the idea of sharing a bed with him.

Maybe he hadn't been clear enough when he said he doesn't have sex with clients and that nothing would happen without her permission.

Lucas wants to reassure her, that absolutely nothing is going to happen and that the situation isn't exactly a big deal anyways but stops himself at the last minute. For one, he's not certain that bringing up the subject without warning won't end with the nervous girl having an anxiety attack of some sort, and for another, no matter how routine and rote this week is for him, to Riley it _is_ most definitely a big deal. To downplay or make light of any of it won't make her feel any better; if anything it could drive a wedge between them, making the week harder for the both of them.

He settles on mentally preparing himself to sleep on the room's small sofa should things come to that, and on finding a new conversation topic to fill the silence that's settling in the space. "Remind me who's going to be at this dinner we're going to tonight?"

Riley perks up a bit, seemingly grateful to have been given something to do. "Well, Ava's an only child and her parents are on a Mediterranean Cruise until Friday-they'll be back just in time for the rehearsal dinner- so it's pretty much just going to be the extended Matthews clan." She crosses over to him, removing her phone from the pocket of her shorts. She then pulls up her facebook page (underused if the fleetingly seen last post dated nearly eight months ago is any indication) and starts to bring up various pictures, giving him the rundown of all the family that will be in attendance at the upcoming welcome party.

As the ersatz introductions and commentary progress, the pair slowly drift to the couch and sit next to each other while chatting. Lucas tries to take in as much as he can and commit it to memory; as far as anyone else knows, he and Riley have been dating for months and even if they have been keeping the relationship quiet, it would be strange if he didn't know a thing about her family.

Riley's information stays very fact-based, so unfortunately he doesn't pick up very many hints as to why she doesn't spend much time with her family or why she wanted to lie in the first place (when it strikes him as being in stark contrast to her personality), but the longer they talk and the more she relaxes, the more comfortable Lucas feels about meeting everyone and playing his role properly.

It won't exactly be hard to look at this girl with adoration.

He knows a lot about her. Yes, she's guarded about the details of whatever it was in her past that drove a wedge between her and most of her family, but between the time they've spent together in the day since they've met and the background check he runs on every client, Lucas is really starting to get a feel for who Riley Matthews is.

She's kind-hearted and soft, brimming with joy and innocence when she lets herself relax but there's also something harder behind her eyes-a fiery wall lying in wait should anyone or anything happen to cross her. She's clumsy and nervous, self-conscious and self-critical. But she's also hard-working. Nurturing. Independent.

Not to mention beautiful.

Riley Matthews is exactly the sort of client that his business partner has always kept him away from. Using distance in addition to the hard and fast rules they've come up with to ensure that things don't become too complicated. Because if he wasn't on the job, Riley Matthews is exactly the sort of person he would fall for. And there has already been a moment or two where he's felt _something_ more than just a hand brushing against another hand or eyes meeting during a conversation.

Over the next week he's going to have to be incredibly careful.

* * *

"Take my hand." Lucas instructs.

"What?" Riley, who had been standing stock still and staring at the door they really should be going through, snaps her head to look at him, eyes wide.

By the time they're standing outside of the bed and breakfast's dining room, ready to join Riley's family for the welcome dinner, Riley is palpably and profoundly nervous. And not just because they're nearly twenty minutes late because they got caught up in their chat and they had to rush to change into dinner appropriate clothing and make themselves presentable, although that certainly hasn't helped matters.

No, Lucas knows that his client is worried about being on his arm and walking into a room where she's going to be under the scrutinous eyes of her parents and extended family (although which worries her more seems to change at any given moment) and the next few hours for him are going to be a delicate dance. Doing his job means being a steadfast, calming presence for Riley, while deflecting attention when and where it's needed, coming off as a charming and doting partner, gathering information that will help him fine-tune his performance to better do his job, and, should things get really tense, jumping in as any good partner would and protecting and defending his 'girlfriend'. Thankfully, it's a dance he's familiar with, and he knows how to guide someone else through it as he performs.

"Take my hand." He repeats softly. Riley continues to look more stunned than understanding of his words so Lucas goes on to explain himself. "You're nervous. Very understandably so, but when you come off as nervous it tips everyone else off to look for what's wrong; so you should take my hand when we walk in there. It will remind you that you're not facing anything here alone, and it will catch everyone's attention. I'm the story here, not you."

"You being here might be _a_ story," Riley answers, "but the story they're really gonna be interested in is that _I'm_ here with a guy like you."

It's not the first time she's made such comment, implying he's not what her family will expect, or that she'd never normally be able to date someone who looks as good as he does. Lucas has been chalking that up to her self-esteem and perception issues but he's starting to wonder if there's more to that story as well.

"Let me handle them." He encourages. "That's why you hired me."

"And because I'm a lying liar. Who lies." She chews on her lip.

"Only to take care of yourself."

"Well, when the truth comes out, and it _always_ gets forced out somehow, none of them are gonna care about that."

The comment raises another flag or three about the story that he's missing, Lucas is sure of it. Nobody is naturally that pessimistic about a few whitish-gray lies. It's just another thing that he'll have to ask about later. Right now, they're already late and drawing attention to themselves; every moment they stand around, worrying about joining the party is another moment that makes their arrival seem like more than it is. Right now, the focus is on getting Riley through the evening, hopefully without a panic attack.

"I have never had a client outed who didn't want to be." He tries to assure. "Riley, my number one priority this week is to take care of you. That means I will help you handle anything and everything that comes up. You just have to hold my hand and remember to breathe."

"Hold your hand," Riley mutters and plunges her hand into a death grip with his, "and remember to breathe." She inhales deeply, in an almost exaggerated manner.

Lucas is fairly certain that if he can get her to smile before they walk in the room, she'll follow his lead and it will be hectic, but relatively smooth sailing. He starts to walk her to push open the door to the dining room, guiding her through; at the last second he leans down to whisper in her ear. "Do you know why the snowman was looking through all the carrots?"

Riley doesn't stop moving with him, but once again she snaps her head to look at him, this time with an utterly confused look on her face. "What…?"

"He was picking his nose."

Her puzzled frown morphs into a resonant giggle, and as they step into the dining room to join everyone, her eyes gain a spark.

Lucas grins. Mission accomplished.

* * *

"Riley! Finally! There you are!" A loud, borderline brash female voice cuts through the quiet chatter of the dining room not long after he and Riley enter, drawing everyone's attention. A perfectly put together young woman, easily identifiable to Lucas as Auggie's fiance Ava, shoves between her companions to rush up and grab Riley's shoulders, drawing her into the ritual of kissing near each other's cheeks. "We were starting to worry that you had decided to run back to California."

The room titters at the comment, and Lucas notices several people sharing knowing glances or nudges.

Riley's smile tightens, her cheeks bright red. "No, we just lost track of time while we were unpacking." She repeats the excuse she had given when Auggie had called, wondering why they weren't at the dinner with everyone else.

"Well, with a man like this on your arm, who could blame you?" Ava eyes him up and down, not dissimilar to the way his business partner had when they first met; if possible, Riley's cheeks flush hotter while Ava holds out her manicured hand. "Ava Morgenstern, soon-to-be Matthews. You must be Riley's new beau."

"Lucas." He shakes her hand, still holding onto Riley in his left. "Riley's told me so much about you and the wedding. You must be counting down the minutes until Saturday." Thus far it's not the quiet entrance he was hoping for to help put Riley at ease, but getting the bride-to-be to start talking wedding details should help deter most people's interest and reduce the amount of eyes on them to a more manageable number.

Ava rolls her eyes and sighs heavily. "More like counting all the ways everything can go wrong and making sure they don't happen. As beautiful as they are, weddings are a nightmare. _But_ ," she brightens and reaches behind her with a quick glance to grab Auggie's hand and pull him into the conversation, "it will all be worth it when I have the perfect ceremony and I am finally and officially _Mrs._ Ava Matthews-Morgenstern."

"Officially?" Lucas asks.

"They had a small, informal ceremony when they were six." Riley answers for them. As Lucas had predicted, letting Ava move the discussion away from their arrival has caused several people in the room to lose interest and return to their other conversations and under less scrutiny, Riley's death grip on his hand relaxes and she starts to breathe a little easier. "Nothing too fancy, just a tasteful promise of their eternal devotion to each other."

Auggie puffs up his chest and grins. "Well it worked, didn't it? We've been together ever since."

"Ensuring that the Matthews' legacy lives on." An older man, who Lucas figures Auggie could easily turn into twenty or thirty years down the line, steps behind Auggie, placing a hand on either of his shoulders and shaking gently.

Lucas reasons that the newcomer is Riley's dad, Cory. For one, he matches the pictures that Riley had shown him in preparation for this dinner. For another, he sees Riley's smile falter at the mention of a 'Matthews' legacy' and the blink that takes a second too long before she drops his hand. And lastly, there's the greeting.

"Hey Dad." She says rocking on her heels.

"Riley!" Cory steps around Auggie and Ava, holding his arms out; Riley obliges the offered embrace, putting her hands on his forearms and leaning in to kiss his cheek. As she pulls back, he keeps an gentle grip on her elbows and looks her up and down. "You look...really pale for someone who lives in Los Angeles."

"Yeah, well, work really gets in the way of beach time." Riley nods.

"You're really working that much?"

"Since my landlord and the grocery store and student loan providers like money...yeah. Work is pretty much what I do with my time." She presses her lips together.

Cory's puzzled frown deepens, taking on a more unhappy slant. "There's a lot more to the world than work and paying the bills, Riley."

It's not exactly the sort of greeting that Lucas would expect to see between a man and his daughter. It's not even the sort of greeting he would expect between a man and his realtor, and he can't help but be a little surprised. Riley had explained the disconnect but he she hadn't painted a picture of _this_ kind of distance; it bothers him more than he expects and it takes an extra beat for Lucas to remember his job is not solely to observe.

"Actually, Riley's sense of responsibility is one of the many things I love about her." Lucas slides his arm around Riley's waist, relieved that she doesn't tense up more than she already is at the new touch; although they had discussed close contact as part of selling the relationship and had talked about what she would be comfortable with there's no distancing from the fact that he's little more than a stranger getting up close and personal without much warning.

Cory blinks and frowns, assessing him as a newcomer. "And you are…?"

"Dad, this is Lucas." Riley introduces. "He's the guy I've been seeing for the last few months."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, sir." Lucas offers his hand and does his best to put a touch of earnestness in his smile, not so much as to be blatantly sucking up, but enough to try and appeal to Cory's sense of flattery.

It doesn't work. Cory shakes his hand, but doesn't return the smile, narrowing his eyes instead. "Do you have a last name, _Lucas_?"

"Friar, sir." He gives his own last name. Clients know it anyways because it's all over the contract that they sign, and although it doesn't often come up with the other people he meets while on the job, he figures when it does, there's little point in lying. He's not doing anything wrong, and it's not as if he'll ever see them again anyways.

"And what do you do for work, Mr. Friar?"

"I have a customer service job at the moment that's putting me through Vet School." Again, not a total lie. Being an escort certainly is related to customer service in a way. And he's not attending classes right now but outside of his living expenses and the loans from his undergrad degree, all the money he earns working is going into savings to eventually pay for Veterinary School. Still, this feels a little more strange coming out of his mouth than his last name did. It's not something that he normally shares with clients and he's not sure why he's let it slip now.

"Work _and_ school and still you find the time to date my daughter?"

The interrogation rubs Lucas the wrong way. Two minutes before his introduction Cory didn't seem to know Riley at all, but now he's jumping straight into protective father mode as if she's still a young girl going on her first date? It's a dynamic that leaves him wondering at the pieces of the puzzle he's missing, but unless Riley asks him to, his job isn't to unpack that or get defensive.

He keeps up his smile and he shrugs. "I've found that if things are important enough to you you can make the time, sir."

"Interesting."

Riley frowns at the obvious judgement in her father's tone. "Dad, Lucas didn't come here for you to give him the third degree."

"Maybe not but I think a father has a right to know who his daughter thinks is worthy of her time when she has rejected-,"

"Dad!" Auggie cuts Cory off, a very definitive warning look on the young man's features. "I thought we agreed that you were going to drop that? For the sake of the wedding _and_ for Riley."

The non-verbal exchange that follows between father and son is fascinating and Lucas could probably watch it for hours but Riley sighs and interrupts before it goes on too far. "It's fine, Auggie. I should probably make the rounds with Lucas and introduce him to everyone else before they serve dinner, anyways. Where's mom?"

"Topi's out on the deck." Ava waves a hand towards the double doors that lead outside. Peering over, Lucas can just see the imposing older woman standing with a short blonde. "I tried to keep her in here but you were running late and her favorite daughter had something she wanted to talk about so they stepped out a few minutes before you got here.

Lucas doesn't know if Ava means to be so cutting with her explanation, but between the admonishments she receives from Auggie, the strange look that passes over Cory's face and the hurt that flashes in Riley's eyes, he figures that the bride has hit a nerve somewhere. "You never mentioned a sister."

"She means Maya." Riley says, pressing her lips together. "Uncle Josh's wife."

Again, Lucas gets the feeling that there's a massive story that he is just...missing. From Cory's flinch when Riley calls Maya 'Uncle Josh's wife' to Ava feeling totally confident calling the girl Topanga's favorite daughter...there's something more happening than just a woman who doesn't connect with her parents. He's feeling a bit more like he's in the position to ask (what kind of boyfriend wouldn't inquire about such obvious tension?) but he doesn't get the chance.

Riley slides her arm around him, finally reciprocating his embrace. "Come on Lucas. You should meet my grandparents."


	4. Chapter 4

As always, thanks to everyone who has read, reblogged, commented, liked…whatever you've done to support the fic. It means the world to me. And just a reminder, I'm more than happy to chat about this or any of my other fics if you pop into my inbox.

In this chapter, Lucas gets his introductions to Topanga. And Maya. And then he and Riley do some sharing.

* * *

"It's lovely to meet you Lucas." Riley's mother is the picture of poise as she smiles and shakes his outstretched hand-warm and not at all what he's expecting after making the rounds in the dining room. "It's always nice when Riley actually gives us a peek into what her life is like now."

The barb, presented behind the veneer of courteous small talk lands just as intended; Riley's grip on his hand tightens and out of the corner of his eye, Lucas sees the edges of her smile draw in.

That's more like it.

Meeting the rest of the Matthews family, from her grandparents on her dad's side to her aunts and uncles and their families (most of the Matthews family now live scattered across the country according to Riley, and are using the destination wedding as a vacation and quasi-reunion) has thus far been a mixed bag of awkwardness, passive-aggressive needling towards Riley and suspicion aimed in his direction. They'd just been running out of small talk to go over with the only surrogate uncle invited to the full family experience, Shawn, when Topanga and Maya had returned to the dining room. Maya had gone back to her husband upon entrance but Topanga had zeroed in on and them to greet Riley and receive her introduction. So far, Topanga only checks off the box of passive-aggressiveness, leaving Lucas curious. Of all Riley's blood relatives in the room, only Auggie and Riley's Uncle Eric had been genuinely at ease and warm with her (and him), but Topanga would come across as such to anyone not paying close attention.

Is her relationship with Riley not as far gone, Lucas wonders, or is she just better at hiding what's wrong?

He instinctively leans towards the latter option; when she's not flustered Riley has a mask that could fool almost anyone. She had to have gotten that skill from someone.

"I'm just glad I was able to get the time off to come out with her." Lucas says. "Riley has become so important to me over these last few months and I really want to meet everyone who's important to her." The comment is a bit cheesy, he knows, but most of the time when he throws it at parents of his clients, they eat it right up, and he figures it makes for a pretty decent litmus test. How Topanga reads the implication could give away a bit more about where she stands with Riley.

"And yet you're here." Topanga swoops her head in a single nod. Her smile doesn't falter, but her voice is just a pitch too bright. "Riley must not talk to you very much about us."

"No, but she paints a picture." Lucas drops Riley's hand in favor of wrapping his arm across her shoulders and bringing her a bit closer. She stretches an arm around his waist in return.

"I'm sure she does." Topanga's eyes narrow, ever-so-slightly. Her attention quickly focuses on her daughter. "Riley, you and I will have to have a lunch while you're here, just the two of us. I feel like there's a lot we need to catch up on."

"Sure." Riley nods, pressing her lips together. Her eyes go just about everywhere except for her mom's. "I mean, if there's time."

Topanga scoffs. "I'm sorry, are you really not going to _make_ time for your mother?"

It's the first crack in Topanga's perfectly pleasant facade, Lucas notes. Her eyes flash and her voice gets louder...more strident. Meanwhile, Riley seems to shrink back, even without moving an inch.

"That's not what I-,"

Topanga cuts Riley off. "We haven't even been on the same coast of the country in over a year and you barely call twice a month, which I _graciously_ forgive because I know how hard you have to work as a young woman who's the low man on the totem pole, but now you're here on vacation and you _still_ can't carve an hour out of your busy schedule to catch up with me. Are you really that-,"

"I think she just meant that we're here for Auggie and Ava's wedding, ma'am." Lucas steps in before Topanga's words can get too hurtful, a path they are obviously starting to barrel down. He doesn't bother trying to tamp down his displeasure or hide it in any way; bonding so quickly with Riley is going to be problematic, particularly when he's usually so capable of not feeling _anything_ real for his clients) but right now he's not going to complain that it's making his job fairly effortless. The protective ire that bubbles up in his chest at Topanga's practical emotional bullying of Riley is exactly what a caring boyfriend needs. "And as a member of the wedding party, Riley's schedule has pretty much been planned out down to the second. However, I'm sure if anything changes, you'll be Riley's first priority." Unlikely, but he can't afford to alienate Topanga entirely.

Topanga's mouth is opened, poised to deliver what promises to be a diatribe of a rebuttal when a soft, repeated clinking cuts through the chatter of the room.

Ava's at the head of the dining table, water glass and fork in hand. "Thank you. Everyone is _finally_ here, so if you could all take your seats by the appropriate place cards, we can get the meal underway.

Lucas takes the moment of distraction to gently pull Riley away to the table. A cowardly move? Possibly. It's obvious that several members of intimidated by her, even afraid of her though aside from her crafty ability to disguise guilt trips and condescension as part of her perfect mom and super woman thing, Lucas has yet to see a compelling reason why. But he also doesn't want to cause a scene and draw attention, something that could easily happen if he and Riley stay in this conversation, and he's fairly certain that they won't be seated anywhere near the elder Matthews'.

Lucas' second priority is to get Riley's train of thought away from Topanga; part of having him as her boyfriend for the week should be that she gets to relax and impress her family and former friends-be every ounce of the warm and bubbly personality being stifled beneath her yearning to please the people that by his count, aren't interested in being please. "I thought this was an informal dinner…" He leans down slightly to comment in Riley's ear as they walk. "Is she serious about place cards?"

"Ava doesn't joke about parties she's involved with." Riley answers him. As she continues to talk the stiffness slowly bleeds from her posture. "She's a planner. Very detail-oriented. She has a Pinterest board about how to make the perfect Pinterest Board."

"So I should double check that my suit and tie won't clash with the wedding colors?"

"If you don't want to be barred from entry to the ceremony, I would."

* * *

The meal starts well enough. They're sitting closest to Riley's Uncle Eric, a Senator who Lucas recognizes from the news and myriad appearances on late night talk shows (though he never would have made the connection to Riley without the introduction) and his wife, Linda. Riley's relationship with Eric seems quite normal and even affectionate compared to the rest of her family, it's easy enough for the foursome to hold a conversation-Riley and Eric giving each other updates on the goings-on in their lives with Lucas and Linda occasionally interjecting- and block out the rest of the room. By the time salad comes out, Riley appears to have put the encounters with her parents at the back of her mind and is starting to enjoy herself, laughing as Eric recounts a dating mishap he and Linda had back in high school, the first time they had gotten together.

Riley doesn't even falter when Linda smiles sweetly and comments, "So Riley, Eric didn't know very much at all when I asked him about you and Lucas and you're so sweet together… I am dying for details. How did you two meet?"

After all, Lucas thinks, this is a story that they came up with together. They've practiced telling it and Riley is comfortable so she answers without pause. "At the hospital. I was at the main desk working on my charts and Lucas had just brought in a coworker of his that had gotten sick during their shift together."

"And I'm trying to help him fill out his paperwork," Lucas cuts in, angling his glance towards Riley occasionally as he speaks, "but I keep getting distracted by this beautiful nurse with a stuffed bunny rabbit around her neck."

"My stethoscope cover." Riley rolls her eyes. She leans to the side as she giggles, her shoulder bumping his and Lucas is impressed; he hadn't been sure that she'd be at ease enough-with him or the situation-to forget about the play-acting element of the week let their interactions happen naturally as they would with most couples but she's surprising him the more the evening goes on by starting to show a bit more of herself. "And you were way more distracted by that...I don't think you even noticed my face."

"Oh I noticed you too, but I had never seen one of those before."

"Because they're for _pediatric_ patients. Anyway," Riley continues after their shared look, "I'm working away and he's ogling my rabbit-,"

"Which is not something I approve of my niece's suitors doing in public." Eric interjects.

Riley flushes brightly, but doesn't stop talking. "We're both doing our thing and this guy comes up-the boyfriend of a patient I'd been working with earlier-and he's upset, asking all these questions about his girlfriend that I can't answer. I'm not allowed to, but that's not the response he's looking for. He gets really mad and he grabs my shoulders and starts shaking me. Lucky for me, Lucas was there."

"I just wanted to get the guy off of her." Lucas clarifies. "He was a kid, but he was huge, and I didn't see security anywhere so someone had to do something."

"Oh my gosh, so you stepped in and saved her?" Linda's rapt expression melts into a smile. "Oh Riley, no wonder you fell for him."

"Well, I wouldn't say it was instant or anything..." Riley giggles and nearly stammers. It's the first part of their story that reads like a bit of a lie, which Lucas finds interesting. It's almost like she's defending herself against the claim of falling for him though he can't imagine why. It's not like there's anything wrong with the scenario they've concocted it's not unusual at all for a person to become attracted to someone who does something like intervene is they're being threatened. Whatever the initial spark of attraction to someone is caused by, it doesn't make the subsequent relationship less real. Not as long as you build a solid foundation on top of it. "I still had to get to know him."

" _Still…"_ Linda gushes. "What a way to meet. And you've been dating ever since?"

"It was three months last week." Lucas nods. He lays a hand on top of Riley's, brushing his thumb across her knuckles and causing her to glance over at him. There's a brief flash of the same uncertain, deer-in-the-headlights look the gesture had caused on the plane in her eyes, but just as quickly it retreats, making way for her small, bashful smile to return.

Her really adorable, bashful smile.

The really adorable, bashful smile he finds himself returning and wanting to see more of.

Lucas has to tear his gaze away when Eric starts to speak.

"Three months in, a week-long trip to meet the family...sounds _pretty_ serious." Eric peers pointedly over the glass he has raised near his mouth. "Riley never introduces us to her boyfriends so for her to bring you here to face the entire firing squad...she must think you're something special. Maybe the next wedding we get together for will be for you two."

"Eric!" Linda and Riley admonish him in unison, while across and a little farther down the table, a blonde groans and rolls her eyes.

"Oh please."

Eric loses some of his convivial nature at the muttered comment and lifts his chin at the woman. "Something you want to add to the conversation, Maya?" The edge in his voice is unmistakable; Eric is not his sister-in-law's biggest fan, and Lucas wonders why.

Across the evening he's gotten the feeling that Maya plays a role in the story of Riley's estrangement from most of her family-she just hasn't featured in the snippets that Riley has given him. But the mention of her is enough to cause an increase in tension, and despite the fact that she's Riley's age and her aunt by marriage, there had been no attempt to greet her thus far; if anything Maya had seemed to deliberately avoid being near Riley until they had taken their somewhat adjacent seats at the table.

The blonde seems to get along with everyone else and fit in well with the rest Matthews' family, so there has to be _something_ causing the unease and disquiet. Unless it's just the fact that Riley _doesn't_ get seem to fit in well with them, but that seems unlikely. They're all adults after all.

"I just think it's hilarious that you think Riley and this...Norman Rockwell rip-off are gonna get anywhere near marriage." Maya says, stabbing at a cherry tomato in her salad with her fork. "We all know Riley doesn't _do_ the relationship thing anymore. And even when she did it was _not_ with guys like him." She pops the tomato in her mouth, and talks around it. "It'll be a miracle if they make it to six months, let alone to an engagement or a wedding."

Josh, who Lucas has only interacted with enough to form the opinion that he hero worships Cory and worships his wife, leans over to quietly chastise her at the same time that Riley shrinks back in her chair.

"Guys like me?" Lucas asks. He's careful to leave his tone friendly enough and a smile on his face but he nearly squares his jaw just the same; he can't see how Maya's comment is meant to be anything but a jab at Riley, even if she wasn't directing it towards her. He has to reach for her hand again when Riley tries to pull away.

The table starts to hush as the conversation continues, everyone else catching on that something more interesting than general family catch-up is happening.

"You're crazy hot." Maya blinks, like she can't figure out what he doesn't get. "Like, _stupid_ hot."

"So?"

"Riley has a type and you're not it." Maya shrugs. "She's never dated anyone like you."

"That's funny," Auggie comments from a few more seats down the table, levelling a sharp stare at Maya, "I don't remember you having any complaints about who she chose to date when you were in high school."

That's it, Lucas realizes. That's where the story is. He should have known. It always goes back to high school.

He knows that the secret to the story lies in Auggie's words because Cory and Topanga both immediately start demanding that he apologize to Maya, and most everyone else seems to be caught up between joining in on the fight that brews when Auggie refuses and making sure that Maya's OK. Meanwhile after a few moments of this building voluminous explosion where her name gets thrown around more than once, Riley, face burning bright pink and eyes shining with tears pushes away from the table and rushes out of the dining room.

Lucas is the only one to notice.

He doesn't understand the situation-doesn't understand what a girl like Riley who seems to be so soft and caring and full of exuberance could have done to have such a polarizing effect on her family-and the more he watches the Matthews, the less sure he is that he needs to; it's not his job to fix them anyway and Riley never asked him to. She asked him to be her companion for the week and make everyone think that they're a couple.

With all of that in mind, no horse in the game, and starting to give in to his distaste for the Matthews and the way they treat Riley, Lucas stands and walks out of the room without a word.

* * *

After a detour through the kitchen where he snags something they can eat (as the meal hadn't really been underway when they had left) Lucas finds Riley sitting out on their room's balcony, staring out at the beach with her knees pulled to her chest. He observes the situation for a brief moment (she's not crying as he was sort of expecting), and raps his knuckles twice on the doorframe.

"You want to talk about it?"

Riley doesn't turn to look at him when she answers. "No." The one syllable tells Lucas everything he needs to know. It's dull and wet; she's swallowing it all down, something she's obviously used to doing. For every snide comment, dirty look, or outright attack she had faced from her family, not once had she been the one to fight back, not in any meaningful way. She made a few token attempts to defend her current life, but otherwise took everything they had to throw at her in shrinking subservience.

When did she learn that? Lucas wonders, though he shakes his head as soon as the thought emerges. If the family's conflict isn't his problem than neither is the history of Riley's behavior. Diving too deep into that rabbit hole is just another way of getting too close and becoming attached, and there's no room for that in a business arrangement like theirs.

"Do you want to be alone?"

"Not really."

Again, not what he expects. But Lucas complies, and steps out onto the balcony, taking a seat next to Riley on the small bench seat. After a brief moment of sitting in the thick silence, contemplating his next move since she doesn't want to talk about what just happened, Lucas presents his (slightly stolen) plate of food. "Do you want cake?"

This at least gets her to turn and look at him.

Riley's eyes go from his, to the plate he's holding with a genuinely massive slice of cake and two forks on it, back to his eyes. "Why do you have cake?" The corners of her mouth twitch up, though the expression doesn't grow further.

"I wanted to make sure you got something to eat." Lucas replies, grabbing one of the forks and holding it out for her to take. "But the most portable options were either the basket of dinner rolls or...cake. And I thought given the choice…"

"Yeah, cake is good." Riley nods, taking the fork.

Lucas watches as she cuts into the cake with gusto, taking one large mouthful of red velvet, and then a second. After a moment, he joins her using the second fork, and although the dessert is a bit sweet on his largely empty stomach, it's moist and rich and exactly the sort of thing he likes to eat when he's treating himself. Judging by Riley's reaction, she feels the same way and they eat in the relative silence of the crashing waves for a couple of minutes before Lucas decides that they're settled enough and comfortable enough that he won't be overstepping to speak.

"I grew up in Texas," he begins, feeling more than a little awkward. This isn't a conversation he normally has with his clients; it's not a conversation he normally has with _anyone_ although his business partner knows most of it. "In this little tucked away pocket of a town near Austin where everything just felt so backwards and stuck in time compared to the city. A small town like that… everyone knows everyone and everyone knows everyone's business… Appearance and what people see you do is everything. And my family owns the biggest ranch in the town so we're kind of at the center of that microscope."

"Sounds like a nightmare."

"It...wasn't great." Lucas confirms. "I had a family legacy to live up to and as much as I wanted to, I just couldn't do it. And the whole town knew."

"Is that why you left?"

"One of many reasons." He waits a moment to see if she'll say anything else and when she doesn't, he continues with his story. "When I was five, my dad entered me into my first mutton busting tournament."

"Mutton busting…?" Riley quirks an eyebrow.

"It's like a rodeo except instead of adults it's little kids, and instead of riding bulls you ride sheep."

Riley smiles as the explanation sinks in. "So...the most adorable miniature version of a sport ever."

"You don't really see it as adorable when you're trying to be the very best and uphold the family name." Lucas says. "Then it's just…"

"Impossible to focus on anything other than the anvil of pressure that your family is laying across your shoulders?" Riley fills in, lowering her fork back down to the plate.

Lucas doesn't respond to Riley's explanation directly, although he's not surprised that she has such an innate understanding of the situation even without many details; it's becoming increasingly evident to him that although their actual experiences have been different, their situations are actually quite similar. "If a Friar was entered in the tournament, they always made the strongest showing. My dad, my uncle, Pappy Joe, his dad… mutton busting is a rite of passage in the town and the first step to upholding the Friar family legacy. And I wanted to do it. I thought I was ready. I trained hard as a five-year-old could, watched videos of other tournaments… I was ready to be the best damn mutton-buster they'd ever seen. Then the tournament came and I drew Judy the Sheep as my ride.

"And I know what you're thinking," he continues. "With a name like Judy, she had to be an easy one, right? Just a cute little innocent fluffball."

"I'm guessing not."

" _Judy_ ," the name still nearly sends a shiver down his spine, "was an unhinged and violent sheep disguised as an innocent fluffball, who bucked me off within two seconds."

Riley's hand is on his before the explanation is even complete. "That must have been awful…"

"Just like that I was the laughing stock of the town." Lucas confirms. "A failure. And Friars can't be failures. After that it didn't matter what I did… all anyone ever saw was the kid who fell off Judy."

"I think disappointing people unlocks their memory banks." Riley sighs. She takes her hand back and starts playing with the hem of her skirt. "You do something that doesn't meet their standards and it's like they've got an infinite loop of every mistake you've ever made playing in their brains."

Lucas still can't wrap his head around what Riley could have done to disappoint anyone. She's a successful nurse, so it can't be that they disapprove of her career, and personality-wise… she's got a family that uses every opportunity to remind her that she doesn't fit in and that they don't think she's trying hard enough and she doesn't ever seem to fight back or get mad or really try to defend herself. She just keeps playing nice. If that's their idea of a personality flaw…

Lucas considers himself to be very good at reading people and an excellent judge of character but this not something he can figure out how to understand without a lot more help.

He leans forward and rests the remaining cake on the small table in front of them. "I spent years trying to make them see past all that. Swallowed every piece of myself that they didn't like to try and fit in... turned into the worst possible version of myself and it still didn't change a thing."

"And _that's_ why you left." Riley fills in.

"Same reason you did, I'm guessing."

"Yeah." She shifts in her seat, looking askance. "Only I get the feeling you don't go back anymore. And that you think I'm pretty stupid because I do."

Lucas half-nods, half-shakes his head. "No, I don't. On both counts." He tacks on, nudging her shoulder with his. "We're two different people, Riley. Leading two different lives. My solution isn't necessarily yours."

"I just… don't know how to stop caring about them. They're my family."

"That's the thing. I never stopped caring about them. I just started caring about myself more."

* * *

They sit and talk for several more hours until long after the sun drops down below the horizon. Riley doesn't share the history of what happened with her parents, but she tells him how a summer internship with her Uncle Eric while he was working on healthcare reform led to her choosing to study nursing. They finish the cake and talk about movies and music and when a slip of the tongue reveals his secret love for _Cuddle Bunnies_ , they spend a good chunk of time talking about their favorite characters and which episodes they go back to watch when they're having a bad day.

It's the most open and relaxed he's ever been with a client and Lucas isn't sure how to feel about that. He's always kept boundaries in place for a reason -things just get messy when you get too involved and at the end of the day this is his business. His livelihood. But it's just so easy to blur the lines with Riley and forget that at the end of the day, she's just another customer.

They talk right up until they're both yawning so much that they aren't even getting full sentences out, and at that point he urges Riley inside to get ready for bed.

Bed. Which they still haven't discussed and definitely don't have a plan for.

Given the day they've had and Riley's obvious lack of comfort earlier, Lucas thinks the smart thing to do and the only real options is to go with his original default plan. When he sees Riley go into the bathroom with a bundle of clothes and close the door behind her, he ducks back into the room and grabs a pillow from the bed. From there, Lucas sets to work turning the small sofa into something more comfortable for sleeping.

He does that, changes into some sweatpants (and after a small amount of mental debate leaves his undershirt on though he would usually sleep without it) and is just about to consider settling in when Riley comes out of the bathroom.

She's got light purple short set pajamas on and her hair in a side-swept braid across her shoulder and Lucas feels his mouth go dry. Then she looks at what he's doing and crinkles her nose in a confused frown and he nearly falls back onto the seat.

He is in so much trouble.

"Why does it look like you're planning on sleeping on the sofa?" She asks.

 _She's just a client. Part of a business transaction, nothing more. Don't go falling for something you can't have, Lucas. It'll only be you that gets hurt._

After giving himself the mental pep talk, Lucas coughs once into his hand and answers, feeling slightly re-secured in the nature of their relationship. "I thought you might be more comfortable if you had the bed to yourself."

"Oh." The syllable falls from her mouth and she glances at the floor. "Won't you be uncomfortable? It's just that...you're so tall and that couch is pretty short, and I wouldn't feel right about that. If we're gonna do this, I should be the one on the couch."

There are many different parts of him that won't stand for that. "What? No. Riley, that's ridiculous. This is your trip, your family, you're the one who needs to get the best night's sleep possible and you're the one in charge, so you need to take the bed."

"If I'm the one in charge, then I can insist that you take the bed." Riley argues. "I'm already making you put up with my family for a week, I'm not gonna make you put up with back pain from a poor sleeping surface on top of that."

"You're not _making_ me do anything, you're paying me." Lucas counters. He nearly frowns when he sees something flash in Riley's eyes but continues his piece of the debate. "And I've told you before, that as long as it's not illegal I'll do pretty much anything for a client."

Riley squares her shoulders and crosses her arms over her chest. "Then what if I said I wanted to share the bed with you?"

"Then we'd share the bed, but I don't think that's something that's really-,"

"I want to share the bed." Riley nearly stammers when she makes the assertion but she makes it all the same.

"Riley…"

"I _want_ to share the bed." She repeats, a little firmer this time. "We're both adults. I've shared a bed before and I'm sure you have too. You said nothing would ever happen without my permission and I trust you. There's no reason we both can't be comfortable tonight."

He sighs, mentally adding 'stubborn' to the list of traits he can confirm about her. "I can agree with all of that, but I just don't agree that you'll be comfortable. You're still adjusting to holding my hand."

"And if everyone's really going to believe that we're together then I have to be more comfortable with touching you. _All_ of you." She blushes and turns away in a rush to continue talking, pulling back the sheets. "Consider sharing a bed immersion therapy. It'll be fine."

Lucas kind of doubts that, but there's only so many ways he can make the argument. Riley doesn't appear ready to back down, and they need to get some sleep to face the day tomorrow; in many ways, it could end up worse than today was, given how the dinner had ended. If she's gonna insist on sharing the bed, he figures he either has to do it, or go for a walk, come back when she's asleep and take the couch anyways. And quite frankly, he's tired enough that he doesn't want to go for a walk. "All right. We'll share the bed."

As they both get into the bed, Riley's bravado fades a little bit and they share several glances where her nerves are more evident, and Lucas thinks about offering the couch one last time but she doesn't say anything and before he can, she turns the light out.

Comfortable where he is (he really has been able to sleep pretty much anywhere) Lucas closes his eyes, but he doesn't get anywhere near falling asleep. For the next several minutes Riley is finding a position staying there for a little bit and then shifting, and it's all too much movement within their shared space for him to relax and fall asleep.

Finally, she lies flat on her back and sighs. "Lucas?" She whispers.

Figuring this is the moment where she gives up and asks him to move, Lucas starts to sit up. "Yeah?"

"I was...it was nice out on the deck when we were talking. Could you…?"

Oh. Lucas lowers himself back down onto the bed, and takes a moment to think. "You know how I told your dad I'm putting myself through vet school? That was true. I'm gonna be a veterinarian someday."

"Really?"

"Yeah. One day when I was in the sixth grade I was home alone after school and I went to the barn to hang out with the horses, and one of my favorites, Sofia, she started foaling…"


	5. Chapter 5

As always, thanks to everyone who has read, reblogged, commented, liked…whatever you've done to support the fic. It means the world to me. And just a reminder, I'm more than happy to chat about this or any of my other fics if you pop into my inbox.

In this chapter, Auggie and Riley have a little bit of family time, we go to dance class, and Lucas hears _The Ballad of Corpanga._

* * *

The next day starts with Auggie taking Riley to sit at the far end of the breakfast table away from everyone else to apologize for bringing things up the way he had the night before at dinner.

Well actually, before that Ava gives a sweeping declaration that if a scene like that occurs again anyone involved will be banned from attending the wedding, regardless of their relationship to the bride and/or groom and their position in the wedding itself.

And before that there was navigating waking up next to Lucas, practically sharing the same space in the bed with his arm up above her head across her pillow and their bodies barely half an inch apart… Riley woke first and nearly had a heart attack when she realized she could feel his chest against her back in time with his breathing before she remembered that the night had ended with her practically demanding that they share the bed. Thankfully, she had been able to extricate herself and get into the bathroom to shower and go through her morning routine without somehow waking him up or otherwise embarrassing herself, and even though Lucas was awake by the time she was dressed and ready for the day, he wasn't really alert or talkative until after his own shower (and really not until after they got downstairs and he had his first few sips of coffee in him) so their conversation had been minimal and unremarkable.

So for Riley, who's choosing to do her best to forget her wake-up call and the awkward staring and silence followed quickly by everyone conspicuously starting up conversations and turning away the moment she and Lucas arrive at breakfast, the day really begins when she's with her little brother and he's trying to make amends for his misstep.

"I know it's not an excuse but she was being a total bitch." Auggie says after his initial apology. Riley automatically admonishes him for the language (that's never been how they talk and besides that there are a few little kids in the room) but he continues talking as though she hasn't said a word. "And I knew no one else was going to stop her except for maybe Uncle Eric, and _you_ weren't going to fight back so I just thought I'd...knock her down a peg or two and remind everyone that she wasn't exactly blameless for your junior year."

"Except you know that's not how they see things, Aug." Riley shakes her head. "They heard you say that and they saw us attacking her for something she had no control over."

"I never said I was thinking when I did it." When Riley doesn't join in his nervous laughter, Auggie glances down, contrite. "I'm really sorry Riley. I know I probably made things worse…"

Riley shakes her head, and briefly rests a hand on Auggie's shoulder; the last thing she wants is her brother stressing himself out the week of his wedding over this problem that's over ten years old. "Pretty sure that's not possible." She forces a smile to go with the cynical comment. "Don't worry about it Auggie. Just don't do it again, OK?"

"Are you sure?"

"Bygones, I promise." She nods. "It's not like everyone in the room didn't already know the whole sordid story."

Well, everyone except for Lucas, she internally corrects. She still hasn't been able to bring herself to broach the subject, even after he had shared his own personal humiliation with her. A part of her feels like she has to. It doesn't feel entirely fair to subject him to all of this and expect him to take care of her without knowing why. But at the same time, outside of family and those involved, there's only a grand total of two people that she's ever told the whole story to. And one of those had been under the influence of heavy duty painkillers when she had needed to get her appendix out.

It's _not_ something she talks about or even likes to think about. And even though she's had a lot of time to process and come to terms with the fact that she was merely one player of many involved in the disaster and that everyone had done things that they probably shouldn't have, Riley can't help but feel that at this point she's one of the only people who has reached that conclusion. If no one else sees things that way, who's to say that Lucas will?

Riley doesn't think that Lucas will up and quit if he hears the story (he has a contract to honor after all), but there's a part of her that worries how his opinion of her will change.

They've only been at the charade for a day and she's already grown accustomed to his support-in public and in private. The thought of losing any part of that unsettles her, to the point where she's almost positive that she's only going to bring the subject up if she absolutely has to. Until then, he can try to piece together the small snippets of information that have been floated around and everyone else can just be running on the assumption that he already knows.

"You have been the family's primary topic of gossip for years." Auggie nods, rolling his eyes. "Speaking of, other than the Maya thing...how _did_ last night go?"

Riley's mind immediately flashes to climbing into bed next to Lucas. "What about it?" She asks, speaking a little too fast to be called calm or collected. "The room is nice, Lucas and I slept fine, everything happened exactly the way it was supposed to."

Auggie's eyes widen and then his entire face crinkles. "What? No! Gross!" He shoves at her shoulder. "You are my sister and as far as we're concerned you have no sex life, thank you very much."

Oh. Oops.

"I meant, how did things go with the rest of the family? I only saw the awkwardness that was your conversation with dad."

"Oh, the usual. Uncomfortable and laden with judgement. And then mom showed up." Riley glances down to the other end of the table where her mom and dad are eating their breakfast while being lectured by Ava looking thoroughly embittered by the experience. She reasons that they've earned that particular brand of torment and turns back to grab her glass of orange juice and take a long sip. "And she was exactly how you'd expect mom to be."

Auggie winces. "Awful?"

"I know I'm not always the most confident or assertive person but I'm 28 years old. I've been taking care of myself since I left my senior year. I've debated with a presidential candidate before for goodness sake. But put me in front of mom and it's like I'm eight years old again, trying to tell her about knocking into the bookshelf and breaking her _Junior Associate of the Year_ plaque. Completely unable to explain or defend myself."

In reality, Riley hadn't even been the one to knock into the shelf; Maya had when she had been attempting to recreate a dance from her new favorite music video. But Maya had also convinced Riley that if they told the truth, Topanga would be so upset with Maya that she wouldn't be allowed over anymore and they would have to stop being friends. To eight-year-old Riley, that hadn't exactly been difficult to believe; her mom demanded the best of everyone, especially herself, and the trophies and certificates that proved she had exceeded those standards were a source of pride and joy to her. The way Topanga took care of that shelf and showed everything on it off, Little Riley knew that damaging any of her trophies was probably the worse thing someone could do other than dropping Auggie. It wasn't a stretch to think that she would be incredibly angry with Maya.

And Riley had never really believed in lying to her parents, but she also really didn't want to lose access to her best (and only) friend. Her best (and only) friend who was supposed to be to her what Uncle Shawn was to her dad. Everyone said so.

Desperate to keep her friend and have that experience, Little Riley had fumbled her way through the lie and her mother's enraged interrogation and lecture, scared that in doing so she was losing her mother's adoration and approval, but just as fearful that if she didn't she would lose Maya and have to go back to being the lonely little girl who was stuck singing with her dolls in the bay window of her room because nobody else would put up with her for very long. Nobody else ever seemed to notice her torment over what was ultimately a non-event, nor did they ever realize the truth, but Riley has never been able to forget the look of angry disappointment in her mother's eyes as she went through her diatribe.

"If Lucas hadn't been there, I think she'd still be lecturing me about my lack of contact and commitment to the family, Ava's call to the meal and schedule be damned." Riley finishes, drawing herself back to the present.

"How is loverboy feeling now that he's met the family? He's still here so he can't have been too scared."

Riley glances down the table again; Lucas is a bit closer to their end of the table, eating what appears to be an impossible amount of breakfast meat while talking to her grandparents. He catches her looking and winks at her before refocusing on what her grandpa is saying. "He's, uh…" Riley struggles a moment to get her heart's automatic fluttering reaction to the gesture back under control. "He's not exactly a stranger to having a family that doesn't understand or approve of your choices."

"Well, he seems like a really great guy. I'm glad you found him."

"Yeah, me too." Riley's not really sure as she answers whether she's referring to Lucas in his professional capacity as an escort and companion for the week or in the nebulous region of something more personal that it feels like they're hovering near, but she knows without question that it's the truth. She's glad that she found him.

* * *

"OK!" Ava claps her hands together. "Now that everyone's here, we can get started. I know a few of you still need to change your shoes and things so before I hand things over to Natalya, our instructor for the day, I just want to take the opportunity to say a few things and give you an idea of what we're hoping to accomplish today."

"I know you said she was detail-oriented and all that, but is she seriously going to explain the purpose of a dance class to a bunch of adults?" Lucas leans over and murmurs his comment in Riley's ear, forcing her to smother a giggle in the crook of his shoulder to avoid attracting attention.

They're sitting on a small row of chairs on the edge of a dance studio, putting the shoes that they'll be wearing for the wedding on so they can jump through Ava's next 'wedding party participation' hoop: a dance class. The rest of the wedding party had arrived throughout the morning while the Matthews spent time relaxing on the beach, and after a light lunch everyone's phones chimed with the calendar reminder that Ava had sent out (after Riley and Lucas' late arrival to dinner the night before, she was not taking any more chances and she had sent the itinerary for the week out to everyone with orders to set whatever alarms they needed to on their phone to ensure that they would be on time). Not that the reminder had been needed with everyone together on the beach. Ava had been more than happy to usher everyone to go change into more appropriate attire and drive to the nearby dance studio.

"First of all, thank you all for taking the time to come here today, and for agreeing to be a part of our wedding!"

The group claps and cheers a bit and Ava grins, clearly in her element as the center of attention. "Now, we're here today because Auggie and I want to kick off the reception right with some dancing. Nothing too fancy, just a small choreographed foxtrot for the wedding party on their entrance. Then Auggie and I will come in and do our first dance together, a waltz, while you all wait in the appropriate positions off to the side, and at the very end of the that you'll all come back in and join us to finish things up. Are there any questions so far?"

Thankfully, nobody raises their hand or says anything. Riley reasons that Ava has been chatting their ears off about it for weeks now and everyone already knows just about everything that she's saying.

And even though it sounds like there's going to be a lot to take in over the next few hours, Riley actually finds herself looking forward to it. She's gotten over a lot of her clumsiness from high school, and while she's by no means about to go out and audition for a dance contest or anything, Zay has taken her out dancing and taught her enough basic skills that she's fairly certain that she won't stick out like a sore thumb and attract negative attention.

Plus, the only other family member present besides Auggie is Uncle Josh; everyone else in the wedding party is Auggie and Ava's friends from school. She and Josh had been close when she was younger, but that had ended her senior year of high school. Nowadays he's usually perfectly content to pretend that Riley's not even there unless he's getting drawn into a conversation by someone else, which should make this a lowkey afternoon. No one else really knows her, not enough to be interested in the family drama.

Between that and the quiet morning she and Lucas had spent on the beach with Eric and Linda, Riley is feeling pretty good and relaxed about her afternoon.

"Great! This is going to be so wonderful you guys, I just know it." Ava gushes, clapping her hands together a second time. "Now, everyone will have an assigned dance partner, and with two exceptions, your partner will be from the opposite side of the wedding party. Riley, as Auggie's version of a best man, and Melanie, my fabulous maid of honor, you two will each be dancing with your boyfriends-side note: Lucas, Todd, I need you to run your suits by me tonight to make sure they won't stick out too horribly. Everyone else, Auggie is going to read off your partnerships. As soon as you have your proper shoes on, please find your partner and we'll let Natalya get things underway."

Auggie starts reading a list from his phone and the couples slowly start standing and finding each other and some space on the studio floor.

"You were not kidding about her putting a lot of thought into this ceremony." Lucas comments as they find their own space on the floor to stand. "I have been to _a lot_ of weddings and I have never seen a reception open up with a number that could be from Dancing with the Stars."

"She was probably watching the show when she came up with her vision." Riley whispers back. The last thing she wants to do is catch attention while gossiping about the bride. "Ava's a massive fan."

They chat quietly while waiting for everyone else to be ready and the instructor to get started, but are quick to refocus when the older woman calls for the group's attention.

"So the first thing I would like to do before we get completely underway learning the basics of our dances themselves is just to assess where everyone's level of skill is." Natalya says. "My assistant, Paul, and I will briefly demonstrate a proper frame, and then we'll play some music, and I want everyone to just...do what comes naturally for them. Dance exactly how you know how to dance."

In a matter of moments, Riley is facing Lucas, his left hand wrapped around to rest on her shoulder blade while she loops her hand over to his shoulder, and their right hands clasped together on the other side. It's not any closer than they've stood over the past couple of days-if anything there's a little _more_ space between them than when they've been practically cuddling to sell their coupledom to her family or when they were sharing a bed the night before, but Riley finds herself fighting to keep control of her breathing. Lucas is really _right there_.

"Don't be nervous. This doesn't count for anything." He nudges her gently with the hand on her shoulder blade either completely mistaking the source of her nerves or trying to discourage her from that sort of thought without being rude. Her cheeks feel like they're on fire as she considers the possibility. "I only know a little bit of this stuff anyways, so we'll keep it really simple. Just keep your eyes on mine, and follow me lead."

Another moment and there's music playing, a soft standard that Riley vaguely recognizes.

 _Slow. Slow. Quick, quick._

Lucas taps the pattern in time with the music several times over, a spark seeming to travel between them with every pulse. Then with a gentle squeeze on her back, he guides her to start moving. With each step the room seems to fade away until it's just her, Lucas, and the music. _Slow. Slow. Quick, quick. Slow. Slow. Quick, quick._

For a split second, Riley feels like her feet aren't even on the floor.

Then just as quickly the music fades out, and Lucas guides them to a stop. Where they stay breathing heavily and staring at each other.

There's something strangely intimate about the position. Lucas is _right there_. A warm, stalwart presence holding on to her. Even though they aren't pressed up against each other, it feels like there's nothing between them. And those gorgeous green eyes are locked with hers, to the point where it practically feels like they're boring into her soul and it's all Riley can do to remind herself that they are in a room full of people and it's not nearly as amatory as her mind is telling her it is.

It just… really, really feels like it.

* * *

Riley can't exactly blame Lucas for stepping away from the evening's activity, a bonfire on the beach, to return a few phone calls. He's had his phone on silent (or, at least, she hasn't heard his phone so much as beep) for their entire trip and it's only natural that he has some messages to return, and it wouldn't exactly be fair of her to make him wait until the middle of the night when he's quote unquote 'off duty' to return them; even people with the strictest of bosses at their normal nine-to-five jobs get breaks throughout the work day, and Riley is determined to be a good, non-demanding, easy-to-work-for client/boss, so of course she waves him off when he mentions a need to speak to his business partner.

Besides. Things have been kind of...weird since the dance class. It isn't exactly easy to forget staring into Lucas' eyes for a few hours, locked in an embrace with a thrum of electric energy hovering between them as they moved to the music. Riley's trying to remind herself that her relationship with Lucas is strictly business, and that whatever it is she _thinks_ she's feeling for him is probably really just some physical attraction mixing with her deep appreciation for Lucas being a source of comfort at a time when she's feeling so vulnerable, but it's not exactly working. Not when strictly business means holding hands and sharing glances and blurring all kinds of lines.

Riley had almost welcomed the opportunity to clear her head and rest that came when Lucas had mentioned the need for his phone call with open arms. She would have if him stepping away hadn't meant that she's now stuck at the beach party alone, white knuckling her drink and praying that none of her family decides to stop their mingling with each other to come and try and talk with her.

Still, she can't blame Lucas for stepping away to return a few phone calls.

She just kind of wants to when Shawn comes over. "Hey Riley," he greets, taking a sip from his own drink as he approaches.

"Shawn." Riley doesn't know what to think that her surrogate uncle is approaching. Despite the fact that he's technically her godfather, they've never been particularly close; she doesn't remember the early years of her life when supposedly he was helping her parents to raise her, and when he got a job as a travelling photographer and blogger he all but vanished from her life save for e-mails and the occasional phone call. Then when his work brought him to move back to the city when she was in middle school, he tried but just couldn't seem to understand her. Like everyone else it seems, he found it easier to bond with Maya, and it wasn't long before they weren't really interacting with each other at all unless it had to do with her or Riley's parents. She can't imagine why he's trying to talk with her now.

"You know, I wasn't sure I was gonna have a chance to talk to you alone. Your boyfriend has been glued to your side ever since you got here. Did pretty boy finally need a break?"

Riley very nearly clenches her jaw and her heart starts to hum uncomfortably in the middle of her chest. It's not that she thinks Shawn means anything rude with his comment-tiny little mostly meaningless jabs like that are how he communicates-it's just that it seems like no one is ever referring to Lucas by his name, just random descriptors, and this one feels particularly pejorative. And she can't tell if he means to imply that Lucas needs a break from the family in general or just a break from _her_ and it leaves her on edge to be so unsure as to what exactly is happening in this encounter. " _Lucas_ had to make a couple of calls. He went somewhere quiet."

"Right." Whatever he's assuming, it's obvious that Shawn doesn't believe her, despite it being true. "It looks like you two are pretty close."

Oh. It's gonna be one of _those_ talks. "We are." Riley answers, keeping her words clipped. She learned a long time ago that nothing good comes from being overly friendly and encouraging anyone when they try and go down this path.

"You love him?"

"We haven't said it yet." Riley regards him with a little more suspicion; she has no idea if she and Lucas would have said any sort of I-love-you's if they were really dating (it's not one of the details they've discussed) but she doesn't want to leave much ambiguity about their 'relationship' so leaving the implication that they are in love feels like the safest bet.

"Yeah, but it's in your eyes when you look at him." Shawn smirks. "His too." A beat passes, because Riley has no idea what to say. The conversations never go like this. Thankfully Shawn picks right back up. "You two look really happy together."

"We are."

"That's great."

Wait, what? "It is?"

Now Shawn frowns. He reaches out with his free hand, resting it on her elbow. "Riley, I know we've had our differences about somethings but when have I ever begrudged you happiness?"

A part of Riley wishes she were brave enough to give an answer filled with all of the biting sarcasm and truth that question deserves. But she's not a confrontation person, particularly with people that she knows, even if it's someone that's long drifted away from her. She doesn't know how to swallow the part of her that's a people pleaser, who just wants people to like her and it's that part that keeps her standing in submissive silence.

"Anyways, I wanted to talk to you because of last night."

All right. There it is. The real reason for the talk. Lucas coming first was just a red herring. Riley sighs. "What about it?"

"It was really unnecessary, don't you think?"

Riley's grip contracts around her glass. She hadn't even _done_ anything. She had gone in the night before determined to introduce Lucas and fade into the background, and it was other people who turned nothing into something, but as expected, everyone is more than happy to stay true to form and lay the blame at her feet. "I didn't-,"

"I mean, it's been ten years. _Over_ ten if you really think about it." Shawn continues talking as though she hadn't started to say anything at all. "That's a long time to be holding on to this grudge of yours."

The humming of her heart starts to pound, almost achingly. "It's not a-,"

"Everyone else has been trying to get past this for years, and you make it _so_ hard. You isolate yourself and refuse to have a real conversation about any of it and you won't even give them a chance. And it's not a good way to go through life Riley. I've been there and believe me when I tell you I'm right about this."

It takes everything Riley has not to give in to the tears that are springing to her eyes and she hates herself for it. As though she hadn't wasted years dying for any of them to give _her_ a chance, jumping at any glimmer of hope she could see and inevitably being disappointed. She should be full of rage at every syllable of Shawn's words and all she can do is sink down under the guilt he's laying across her shoulders. All she can do is feel the cloak of panic and upset engulf her, drowning any rational and reasonable response that she wants to spit back.

"Look," Shawn says, gesturing with drink in hand, "Riley. You and I have never been super close, and I can't pretend that I've ever really understood you, but I think I know you well enough to know that you're never going to be really happy without your family around you. It's time to apologize."

"If you can't pretend that you've ever understood her, now probably isn't the time to start." A deep, hard voice interjects.

When a hand slides around her waist, Riley realizes that her timely defender is Lucas. When had he gotten here? Unfrozen, she glances over at him and is surprised at just how cold the gaze he's directing at Shawn is; he seems genuinely, and deeply, angry.

"Excuse me, I was just having a private conversation with my goddaughter." Shawn's reply is a little more heated.

Lucas doesn't blink. "And now you're not."

"I'm sorry?" Shawn sputters.

"A conversation is usually two people talking. Listening to each other. Sharing ideas and trying to reach an understanding about something. But from where I stand, all that's happening here is you're trying to make Riley feel bad about a decision, but you won't even listen to hear where she's coming from. You're more interested in blaming her for not coming around to your point of view than understanding why she hasn't. And I'm not going to let you hurt her like that."

For a moment Shawn just stares at Lucas, and the rest of the party seems to fade to the background. All Riley can hear is the ominous distant crash of the waves and an echo of Lucas' unexpected defense. Is this part of the boyfriend package? She doesn't remember there being anything about going to bat for her when extended family members lecture her and send her into a panic but the contract had been kind of long and wordy so maybe she just missed it… But if it _isn't_ part of his assumed role than what is it? And either way, what is Shawn going to do?

He's always been a bit of a hot head, Riley knows. Sensitive to criticism and personal slights. Leftover pieces of his difficult childhood, her mom had explained when Riley had witnessed an incident in seventh grade. It just takes the right sort of thing to push his buttons and set him off and surely Lucas' comments might qualify.

Riley would really prefer to not see the conversation get louder and draw attention from the partying crowd; it's bad enough just the three of them.

However, instead of the anticipated explosion, Shawn raises his soda can in a flat-smirked toast. "Sir Lucas of LA bursts in on his noble steed to save the day. So _that's_ why she's with you."

The comment lands like a punch to the gut and rather than focus on how she feels, Riley watches Lucas to gauge his reaction; surprisingly to her, he seems even more on edge, clenching his jaw and shaking his head. "And that right there? I'm pretty sure comments like _that_ are why she left New York. Come on Riley, let's get out of here."

Before she can even totally process it, Lucas is guiding her away from the confrontation, with his arm moving from her waist to wrap her hand in his instead as they walk. The further from the party they get the more the entire conversation hits her.

It shouldn't hurt as much as it does. Shawn didn't say anything she hasn't heard a million times before and Riley has long given up on having any kind of meaningful relationship with him, but still… she's never been able to just ignore people when they tell her that _she's_ the problem and start to point out every flaw. At least, not about the things that she's insecure of and worries about herself. Having Shawn all but call her stubborn and selfish still feels like someone clawing at her very being.

Riley doesn't even realize how the feeling is settling into her gut and crawling its way towards engulfing the rest of her until they stop, well down the beach and away from the crowd of the party, and Lucas is pulling her into a hug, his arms wrapping around hers.

"I am _so_ sorry, Riley. I should have never left you alone there." He apologizes, murmuring into her ear. "Are you OK?"

Riley nods into his chest, unable to trust that her voice will sell the lie. She knows she shouldn't be accepting the embrace, let alone returning it, and she can't imagine why Lucas offered it in the first place when there's no one around to see but she can't help it; she needs the moment to compose herself a little-to turn the lie into the truth-and it just feels so... _right_ to be in his arms, even just for a moment.

"I'm really sorry." Lucas repeats. "The rest of the day went so well, I didn't even think…" He trails off and they stand together in silence,

"It's OK." Riley says, pulling away after nearly a minute when the sand beneath her toes feels a bit steadier again. She wipes at her face, just in case any tears fell. "You couldn't have known he was gonna come over. He's usually happy to pretend I don't exist."

"You don't have to answer, or say more than you want to," Lucas slides his hand back into hers and they start walking again, still going down the beach away from the party but at a much slower pace, "but what was all that about?"

"You pretty much summed it up when you stopped him." Riley shrugs. "He's my dad's best friend, my mom looks at him like a brother… He was just going to bat for them, trying to goad their wayward daughter home."

"And the knight in shining armor thing?"

"What about it?"

Lucas glances over at her. "It's a little specific don't you think? Everyone's been kind of skeptical about our relationship but for him to label it like that? And in a way that so obviously bothered you… I just thought there was something bigger there."

Riley stops walking. She debates briefly with herself over answering the question at all, but reasons that really, this part of the story is not that bad at all and barely has anything to do with her and besides which, Lucas has opened up a lot when he didn't have to; the least she could do is try to return the favor and explain a little bit of why he's being exposed to so much drama. "For that, you have to know my parents' story." Glancing around, she spots a nearby log of driftwood and sits down, digging her bare toes down beneath the cool sand and launching into an abridged version of her parents' story for Lucas as he joins her. She tells him about how they met in pre-school, fell in love in kindergarten, got cooties in the first grade, started to seriously reconnect in middle school, and then had their ups and downs until they got married at the ripe old age of 18, to live perfectly and forever happy in wedded soulmate bliss.

"Wow." Lucas lets out a low whistle. "That is _quite_ the story."

"Yes it is." Riley nods, then sighs. "I hate it."

"You...hate that your parents are happy together?"

"Of course not. But I hate that they had this epic love story and that it constantly follows me around. Instead of reading me _Snow White_ or _Sleeping Beauty_ when I was going to bed, I got tales from _The Ballad of Corpanga_ and its companion story: _Cory and Shawn-The Closest Best Friends to Best Friend That the World Ever Did See._ "

"So you'd rather they filled your head with fairy tales? Princes and princesses, knights in shining armor…? Riley the people that spend their lives fantasizing about that spend their whole lives waiting for a happy ending that's never going to come. Do you know how many of my clients…"

Lucas continues to talk but for Riley, the sentence fades out after he mentions his other clients. Not only is it embarrassing, knowing that he's doing it so constantly (probably because of her behavior to try and remind her what's really going on) but it stings that he's missing the point entirely, when she thought it would be obvious.

"My parents' story is just as much of a fairy tale as anything from Disney, Lucas. It's just as fantastic, just as one-in-a-million...just because it lacks the thrill of a dragon or a fair maiden being rescued from her tower doesn't mean it's more realistic for someone to dream about it. It just means they won't get laughed at for wanting it past the age of nine."

Lucas takes a moment to consider her words this time, and he leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he speaks. "You know, you don't really strike me as the kind of person that doesn't believe in that kind of magic."

"I'd have to be stupid not to believe in it when it's been right in front of my face. Take away the fanciful embellishments of witches and royalty and fairy tales are very real. You can see people finding their happy endings all the time. But the hard truth...the one that no one wants to tell you because it's not nearly so magical as everyone having one true love waiting out there to sweep you off your feet and make everything perfect someday...the one that I had to figure out for myself a long time ago, is that just because fairy tales are real, doesn't mean that everyone gets to star in their own.

"Not everyone can be the princess, or have a fairy godmother to grant all their wishes, or have a prince burst in and give them everything they've always wanted. Some people are just the ugly stepsister in someone else's story."


	6. Chapter 6

Notes: Thanks so much to everyone who has been supporting the fic!

Please take notice of the fact that this chapter contains a semi-graphic scene of medical trauma and treatment. There is blood and discussion of injuries. If you're squeamish, you can skip over it without losing too much content-it's the third scene of the chapter, starting with ' _"What happened?" Riley demands…'_ and ending with ' _when he gives his instruction. "Turn."'_

Also, please note that while I did a bit of research to accurately talk about treating the injuries, nothing in this story is done following any real protocols and the way some things are done is most definitely _Grey's Anatomy_ or _ER_ style, i.e. for dramatization purposes rather than realistic medical integrity. This should **not in any way** be considered medical advice. Do **not** try what you're about to read.

Anyways….

In this chapter, Lucas feels awkward, Riley saves the day, and Riley and Lucas climb up a tree.

* * *

"Not everyone can be the princess, or have a fairy godmother to grant all their wishes, or have a prince burst in and give them everything they've always wanted. Some people are just the ugly stepsister in someone else's story."

Lucas can hardly believe the words as they come out of Riley's mouth. How can a woman, who's so beautiful-so _wonderful-_ think so little of herself? "You don't really believe that, do you?" He asks, unable to stop himself from furrowing his brow. The context of the conversation is ridiculous (it's not like fairy tales were ever a big thing for him growing up or anything that he ever bought into) but the root of the matter is clear; Riley somehow doesn't think that she's the star of her own story. Just a bit part in someone else's.

Now, more than ever, he wishes Riley were more interested in explaining her past, because he'd love to know who had convinced her to think that way so he could show them all the ways that they're wrong.

Riley sighs, pushing herself to her feet. "Could you not…?"

"Could I not what?" Lucas follows after her. They start down the beach, back towards the party and the bed and breakfast.

"Do the whole… 'Oh my gosh, but you're _so_ great Riley! Of course you're not the stepsister. Your happy ending is totally coming!'" Riley throws on a mocking, tired effect as she apes her example. She takes a sip of her drink before returning her tone to normal. "You were _just_ trying to convince me that that kind of thinking is a waste of people's time and energy. Don't insult me by turning around and telling me that you didn't mean it was a waste of time for me."

"I meant obsessing over it and spending your life waiting for the happy ending to come to you instead of living your life and going after what you want is waste of time." Lucas explains. "Not that there's no room for hope."

"I have plenty of hope, Lucas. Just not for that."

Lucas stops walking. He can't explain it. Why his chest aches to hear Riley admit that she doesn't have hope for herself in that way or why he wants to do everything in his power to fix things and change that. He's heard about all manner of unfulfilling lives and sad life stories from his client and he's never felt the need to do anything outside the scope of his job for them; that's just not who he is. But here, and now… with everything he's seen so far this week and Riley in front of him… Even after all the attempts he's made to remind himself of his role, all Lucas wants to do is sweep Riley away from this mess of a family and find a way to prove to her that she's so much more than what they've convinced her of.

"Riley-,"

"I'm really tired, Lucas." Riley spins on her heels, flashing him a sad (and ultimately false, he thinks) smile. "I'm just gonna go back to the room and get to bed."

Riley turns back once more and walks down the beach, leaving Lucas behind, wondering what on earth he can possibly do.

* * *

Try as he might, Lucas can't figure out how to start another conversation with Riley, least of all about anything of substance. At first this was because he had no approachable opportunity.

On his way to follow her back to their room, he had been sidetracked by Ava, asking myriad questions about what he would be wearing to the wedding, right down to the socks that he had brought (and Lucas had started drifting off partway through the conversation when Ava had started wondering whether or not his jacket used matte or shiny thread but he's almost positive he agreed to swap out the laces on his formal shoes to something more 'beach chic' appropriate, whatever that means, before the conversation finally came to a close). By the time he did manage to get back to the room, Riley was already in bed and if she wasn't asleep she was doing a very fine job pretending that she was, so Lucas had little choice but to go through his nightly routine and climb into bed beside her.

Then the morning came, and try as he might, Lucas just isn't a morning person. He hasn't been ever since leaving Texas and the ranch where mornings were more of a necessity than an option, so even though his body was awake bright and early as the alarm clock in the room dictated, his mind didn't really join him until after breakfast when they were engaged in a dance rehearsal at Ava's behest. At that point both he and Riley were too engaged in making sure that they were in the right position, doing the right step at the right moment to discuss anything else.

Now they're on a chartered schooner with the extended Matthews family (minus Maya, who claimed an unsteady stomach wouldn't do well out on the water and opted to stay on shore) for the entire afternoon. One last private activity for the family before the rest of the wedding guests start arriving. And although they're fairly isolated from everyone else, choosing to enjoy the view of the water from a padded bench on one side instead of eating at the 'set-up for a party' bow with the entire clan and watching several of the men engage in a clam shucking contest, they aren't exactly talking much.

At least, not about anything of substance.

Riley seems quite content to chatter on about any benign subject from explaining why the music choices for the opening dances at the reception are significant for the young couple, to giving him more detailed accounts as to how her aunt and uncles and other extended family met their spouses (although she noticeably stays away from Josh and Maya) to telling him about some of the more exciting days she's had since she started working in a busy emergency room.

Anything, Lucas thinks, to keep them from going back to the subject of the previous night or anything related to it, and he can't find a way to steer them back that direction as he so eagerly wants to do. How else can he figure out a way to help her?

Riley is in the middle of explaining how they handle Halloween in a pediatric ER, when the ship hits a particularly large and choppy wave, leaving her lurching sideways to fall across his lap. The ensuing blushing and giggling disentanglement of limbs is enough to halt the filler conversation, and to remind Lucas exactly what a dangerous line it is he's straddling; Riley is really creeping her way into his head and heart, becoming so much more engaging and interesting and attractive than any client before her has. All without any negligible effort on her part.

"Sorry." She apologizes as they both straighten. She sends him a demure, dimpled smile as she tucks a strand of hair that's blown out of her ponytail back behind her ear. "What was I talking about?"

Lucas doesn't want to answer. Partly because she didn't seem nearly so comfortable while running down her laundry list of distraction topics, and partly because this seems like as good of an opportunity as any to try and move the conversation where he wants to go. But, possibly sensing his intent to move them back towards a subject she'd rather avoid, Riley speaks again before he can find his path.

"Nevermind. I wanted to thank you, anyways."

"Thank me?"

"For actually listening to me last night and not...trying to fix me or whatever." Riley leans back in her seat, then looks over at him. "I know you don't agree with what I said last night and that you wanted to say something and try and change my mind, and it means a lot to me that when I asked you not to you respected that."

Oh.

Now Lucas just feels like a tool for wanting to broach the subject in the first place.

Riley thinks his silence on the issue was him respecting her wishes (and how low is the bar that that alone is enough to mean a lot to her? he wonders) when in reality he just didn't know how to do what he wanted. And now she's thanking him for it which means he absolutely cannot go back to that conversation without looking like the biggest asshole in the world and Lucas knows he can't do that. He doesn't want to hurt or disappoint Riley like that.

"You don't need to thank me for that, Riley." He settles on, hoping that his face doesn't give any of his surprise or uncertainty away. "My number one job here is to make sure that you're comfortable. We're not gonna talk about anything that you don't want to talk about." He means it this time too. He's not going to do anything that will jeopardize the trust that Riley has been building in him.

"Well, I really appreciate that."

A beat passes. Lucas hesitates for a brief moment, but ultimately reaches over and grabs her hand. "So... with that settled, what do you want to talk ab-," He doesn't get to finish the thought.

Another wave rocks the schooner, only this time instead of falling into each other's laps again, Lucas and Riley hear a shriek, followed quickly by someone crying out, "Oh god!", at the same time that there's a second, anguished scream.

* * *

"What happened?" Riley demands as they arrive at the bow of the ship and the root of the clamor and screaming. She's holding Lucas' hand as she pushes through the chaos of caterwauling family members buzzing around a small catering table, but drops it in the same moment she speaks: just as they spot the bright slicks of blood.

Her dad and Uncle Josh are both clutching at drenched, blood-soaked hands. Even at a distance Lucas can tell that Cory's wound is worse; he has a nasty looking knife jammed in the base of his hand. With a pale face and glassy eyes, he looks ready to drop at any moment.

Eric answers as Riley rushes towards them. "Their knives both slipped with that last wave."

"Someone get me the first aid kit!" Riley grabs her father by the forearms. "Let's sit down before we fall down, OK?" She starts to lower him to deck and kneels beside him. She glances back to Lucas. "Help Josh, please."

Lucas darts over to do as told. Josh is already starting to sit, but he helps him the rest of the way when he sees the man sway a little too much.

"Knife! There is a knife in my arm!" Cory's eyes are transfixed on his arm.

"Close your eyes and try not to think about it." Riley instructs. "I'm gonna look at it a little bit. You'll feel my hands near the wound. If anything I do hurts I need you to tell me." She grabs his injured hand and starts to inspect the wound. "Lucas, tell me about Josh. How does he look?" She doesn't turn away from her exam, just asks the question, while doing her work.

Eyes clenched shut, Cory groans. "Take it out. Take it out."

"That would be a bad idea." Riley answers.

Lucas pries the hand Josh is clenching to his injury off to take a look. He finds a jagged gash, flowing with dark blood. "Like he sliced his hand with a big knife."

"How deep? Can you see anything? Bone or fat?"

He tries to probe it, but just gets another spurt of red. "I can't see anything past the blood."

"Get a bottle of water and pour it over the wound to clean it."

Cory continues to moan about getting the knife out of his arm. Riley continues to ignore that and work. Eric tosses Lucas a bottle of water, which he unscrews the lid off of the moment he catches, tossing it aside.

"Are you sure you should be doing that Riley?" Topanga asks. "The hand has a lot of delicate nerves and blood vessels…"

"Take it out. Take it out. Take it out."

"I'm a nurse, I know what I'm doing." Riley huffs, blowing her loose hair away from her face. "I'm not going to take it out, Dad. I'm going to tape it in place. Where are we on that first aid kit?!"

"It's coming!" Someone shouts from the down the boat.

Riley glances over. "Lucas, how is that cut looking?"

Pouring the water over the wound and sending a runny flood of crimson down Josh's arm, Lucas can't see anything that doesn't look fleshy, angry, and red. He relays the message.

"You're only a pediatric nurse." Topanga interjects loudly.

"Here's the first aid kit." Linda arrives bag in hand and breathing heavily from her sprint.

Riley rolls her eyes, muttering. "Because the structures of the hand only magically spring into place when a patient turns eighteen?" She holds one hand out behind her. "Give me some gauze and the medical tape, then take the rest of the gauze over to Lucas." As Linda digs through the bag and provides the supplies, Riley gives her instructions. "Lucas, you'll need to pack the gauze tightly over the wound. Then you'll want to elevate the hand so it's resting above Josh's heart and continue to apply pressure. That'll control the bleeding until I can come take a look."

"Captain wants to know if he should turn back to the marina." Morgan announces.

"Absolutely."

"Riley, I just think that all of this would be better left to the real profess-,"

"There is a knife in my arm and it needs to come out _now_."

"Dad, no!"

Riley's protests come too late. By the time Lucas can look over to see what's happening, Cory has torn the knife out of his own hand and blood is arcing out, spraying across Riley's form. The crowd shrieks, moans, and otherwise panics while Riley dives across to clamp her hand around the now open and spurting wound.

"Lucas, I'm gonna need your help over here!"

Lucas hands Josh over to Eric and scrambles over to Riley. She has both hands holding some soaked gauze to her dad's wrist, and he can see more blood pushing up through. "What do you need?"

"The knife was in his radial artery. Is there a blood pressure cuff in the first aid kit? I need to temporarily cut off blood flow so I can bandage the wound properly."

"Like a tourniquet?"

"Hopefully for not nearly as long, but yeah."

Linda produces a blood pressure cuff and tosses it over. The Matthews' family falls into a thick silence. "What am I doing?"

"Wrap it just above his elbow and pump it up until I tell you to stop."

All Lucas can hear is the lapping of the waves and the air-filled ghostly puff of the blood-pressure cuff as he inflates it. Cory's mouth is flapping as he stares, white-faced, at the bloody mess Riley is trying to control, but no noise is coming out.

"Stop!" Riley orders. "Leave it there." She lifts the soaked matted mess of gauze away from her dad's hand and drops it to the deck beside her; the wound now trickles rather than bursts with fluid. "Perfect. Now I'm just going to pack the wound with as much sterile gauze as we have," she holds one hand back again for Linda to start supplying her, "and wrap it as tightly as I can with an ace bandage. Meanwhile, I need someone to keep time for Lucas."

"Time for what?" Morgan asks.

Riley doesn't stop working, barely pausing to wipe at her forehead with the back of her wrist. "Every twenty seconds, he needs to turn the release valve on the blood pressure cuff a quarter turn to let some of the blood flow back to dad's hand."

"Riley, he'll lose more blood that way!" Topanga protests.

"Turn it now," Riley instructs softly before addressing the complaint. "And if I leave him with the blood supply to his hand cut off we risk damaging the tissue or forming a blood clot that could cause him to have a stroke. I _know_ what I'm doing."

"I've got the timer." Shawn steps up, pulling out his phone.

"But Riley-,"

"But nothing, mother!" Riley nearly shouts as she continues to pack the wound. " _I_ am the medical professional here, _you_ are merely the uneducated wife of the patient, and if you want this done correctly so your husband gets to keep his hand, you need to step back, shut up, and let me do my job!"

The thick silence of moments before has nothing on the air of stunned quiet that hits the group now. Lucas risks a peek at everyone's faces and finds them all staring at Riley, mouths agape. Topanga looks particularly floored and flummoxed.

Riley works on, breathing heavily but seemingly oblivious.

Shawn coughs once and Lucas could almost swear his voice breaks a little when he gives his instruction. "Turn."

* * *

"Quite a day, huh?" Lucas comments as Riley emerges from their bathroom, showered and changed from her earlier clothes to a more casual (and less bloodstained) outfit. After dealing with the immediate problem of stemming the blood flow from her father's injury, Riley had been able to properly evaluate Josh's cut and take care of both family members until the ship's captain returned them to the marina and she could transfer their care to the waiting paramedics. The work had left her a blood-covered mess, but it had also given him, and the entire family, a front row seat to a whole other side to Riley; gone was the nervous, subservient little girl… in the face of a real crisis Riley was confident, calm, and efficient. She knew what had to be done and didn't hesitate to make it happen.

It had been quite the scene to watch and be a part of.

"I know, right?" Riley is almost grinning as she answers. "A beautiful trip on a schooner, topped off with a clam shucking contest gone awry...who would have thought I'd get to practice my triage and treatment out on open water at my little brother's wedding?"

"It's...definitely not the story your coworkers will be expecting when you get back."

"And the day's not even done. We still have the big 'Welcome to the Cape' party at that restaurant in a couple hours."

The party Riley's referring to is Ava's way of greeting all of the wedding guests who have arrived throughout the day. According to the itinerary Lucas had been e-mailed not long after his confirmation as Riley's date for the week, the patio of a local restaurant has been rented for a night of dinner, drinks and 'one or two fun surprises'. By far not the worst activity to be saddled with, even after the craziness of their day. Lucas just can't believe it actually is still happening after their misadventure on the cruise; he would have thought that with her future father-in-law requiring outpatient surgery (and her witnessing the initial trauma on top of that) Ava would be holding court, giving dramatic retellings and frantically wondering how Cory's splint and Josh's stitches will affect the aesthetics of the wedding. Not to mention how the rest of the family felt, seeing Cory in what appeared to be dire straits. Lucas isn't particularly close with family, but he can definitely imagine the emotional journey he would go on if he were to see him involved in a gory accident like had happened today. He's certain the only reason Riley is as calm as she seems is because she's so used to dealing with similar scenarios at work that somehow, she had gone into nurse-mode and saw Cory as just another patient to deal with.

"Are they really up for hosting a party after such an... eventful day?"

Riley flops down onto the bed with a bounce. "I would have thought your bar for 'eventful' would have been set a little higher, Lucas. Aren't you the guy who helped a horse give birth all by yourself when you were eleven?" She turns onto her side so she's facing the side where he's sitting, resting her head on her hand.

"Oh, so you're saying a severed artery isn't an event? Or getting to save the day by bossing your family around? Or standing up for yourself and telling your mom to shut up?"

"You were doing a nice job making your point until you made up that last one." Riley rolls onto her back. "I'd never tell my mom to shut up."

Lucas side-eyes her. Does she really not remember telling off Topanga? "Well...you did."

"I couldn't have."

"Your exact words were 'step back, shut up, and let me do my job'." Lucas recites, watching as a look of panicked realization slides down across Riley's features.

"Oh god." She bolts upright and scrambles off the bed. "I yelled at my mother. I told my mother to _shut up_." She starts to pace at the foot of the bed. "I slipped right into work mode and didn't even think about what I was doing."

It would almost be comical, although Lucas knows Riley's worry is quite genuine; in a lot of ways he's still getting to know her, but from what he can tell, the part of her with confidence, who can assert herself and handle whatever gets thrown at her...doesn't exist around her family. Something in her still wants to please them, or gets incredibly intimidated by them, or _something_ and she just becomes quiet and small. So for her to have stood up for herself, especially with her mother who Lucas can't recall her even making token attempts to defend herself during the conversations he had been a part of, and especially when she wasn't doing it entirely deliberately (if her lack of immediate recollection is any indication) has to legitimately be distressing for Riley.

He slides to the end of the bed to be closer to her. "I'm sure it's not that big of a deal. Everyone gets told to shut up once in a while."

"Not Topanga." Riley shakes her head. "She's _always_ the one in charge. No one doubts her or tells her to shut up. It doesn't matter what the question or problem is. If they disagree with her, _they_ shut up and deal with it. It's her way or no way at all."

OK, well that sounds a little over dramatic and a bit like Riley is letting her childhood impressions color her point-of-view now. Nobody is _that_ intimidating or domineering. "Riley, she's an adult. Don't you think she can recognize that you were both in a high stress sit-,"

"You don't get it, Lucas. You've talked to her once or twice. You don't really know her. When I say nobody yells at her, I mean nobody. I've heard stories that Feeny got away with it once, but that's Feeny, anything involving him is a whole other ball game anyways."

"What's a Feeny?" From the way Riley stops her pacing to cross her arms over her chest and send him what can only be described as a burning glare, Lucas determines that this is the wrong question to ask. Time to inject a little rationality into the conversation. He hops to his feet and closes the distance between them, gently placing his hands on her elbows. "Riley, I think you're looking at this from the wrong perspective."

"I don't see how you can know th-,"

"What I'm hearing you say," Lucas begins, guiding her to sit on the foot of the bed, "is that your mom is going to be very upset with you for standing up to her and telling her that she was wrong."

" _Monumentally_ upset."

Lucas nods, giving Riley the perfunctory correction. "OK, she's going to be monumentally upset with you. I guess I just don't understand why that's such a big deal. I know I don't have the story as to why, but it's painfully obvious to me that she already doesn't think any of the choices that you make are the right ones. You already have a relationship that's so strained that you moved across the country to get away from it. If she's mad at you about this one little thing, on top of the problems that already exist between you, exactly what difference does it make?"

Riley's mouth opens to say something, but closes a half a moment later. She does this two more times in slow progression, her frenzied expression giving way to one of deep thought.

"Your mom strikes me as the kind of woman that doesn't forgive someone she thinks has wronged her unless they come crawling on their hands and knees, ready to jump through an obstacle course of flaming hoops and beg her to accept their apology." Lucas says, threading his fingers through Riley's. "And you strike me as the kind of woman who's strong enough, and smart enough to know deep down that doing that and sacrificing who you are will never be worth it. If you weren't, you would have done your penance with her a long time ago. So you're already at an impasse. It might not feel good, knowing that you've probably renewed her anger with you, but does it actually change anything?"

Riley still doesn't answer him, not right away. "How do you do that?" She asks, voice quiet.

There's something about the softness in her eyes when she looks at him, the sparkling mix of gentle awe and understanding that suddenly makes it hard for Lucas to focus. That's _not_ how women usually look at him. "Do what?"

"Get me to calm down and make everything seem so simple." She replies, adding a tender smile. "You always seem to know exactly what to say. Are you this insightful with everyone you go out with?"

"I don't think I've understood any of them the way I understand you." The response just...slips out. No qualifiers, no exceptions, just the bare bones. _I understand you_. In that instant it feels like all of the air is sucked out of the room, and Lucas could almost swear that Riley's breath hitches but he doesn't dare entertain the thought or kid himself like that.

Especially when Riley looks away, closing her eyes.

How could he have gotten so relaxed? So stupid? This is a job, not a date. If he doesn't get better about seeing Riley as nothing more than a client he's going to be in for a world of hurt when they part ways at the end of the week.

"I know you probably say things like that to all of your clients," she says, eyes still closed, "but thank you for saying it to me. Even if you don't mean it, it's nice to not feel so weird and out there for the way I feel. At least for a few minutes."

"I don't." He answers, again before he can really think about it. "Say things like that to all of my clients." So much for distancing himself. "And I do mean it. I feel like even though we may not share the same experiences, our stories are the same."

Riley glances over at him, jaw slack. Barely a beat passes before she jumps to her feet, drawing her hand away from his. "I, um, I should call Auggie. See how dad's surgery went. And then I think I'm gonna walk on the beach for a little while."

She exits the room in a whirlwind. Lucas can't even acknowledge what she said or say goodbye, she moves so quickly. And he's left wondering exactly what just happened. How did they go from feeling so comfortable and connected to so stilted in such a short span of time?

The answer eventually comes to him as he falls back so he's lying down, staring up at the ceiling.

Feelings.

More specifically, his feelings.

He's so used to dealing with his clients forming crushes and thinking something exists where there's nothing but play-pretend romance-so used to letting them down gently and keeping things professional on the job-that he never even thought about what would happen if _he_ was the one who started to develop affection for a client. About how awkward that would be for the poor person who's just trying to get through whatever awkward interaction they didn't want to face alone that led them to hiring him in the first place. He's so used to never even having to consider his feelings for a client because he's never seen them as anything more than a business transaction that he barely even realized how much more Riley had become to him, or that he had a problem he needed to control before he had already let them run loose and made an awkward mess of it.

No wonder Riley had bolted from the room.

Lucas reaches for his phone to call his business partner. The call the day before had been a standard check-in they do when he goes on extended trips with a client; now he'll ask for one piece of backup he never thought he'd have to ask for. The speech they'd written together about all the reasons it is a terrible idea to fall for a client.

Lucas quickly decides that he'll listen to that and get his head on straight, and then do everything he can to show Riley that everything can be just as normal as it was and nothing has changed. He can be professional. He has to be.

The last thing he wants is to lose the friendship they've started to form.

* * *

"' _Cause I've had the time of my life,_

 _And I've searched through every open door,"_

"I can't believe Auggie and Ava brought a karaoke machine to their welcome party." Riley groans as the couple wraps up their duet. The party hasn't even really started yet-everyone thought the two had gone up on the small staging area to give the formal speech to kick things off but instead they had started singing what Riley had informed him was their absolute favorite duet, the ballad from _Dirty Dancing_. "This does not bode well."

"I'm sure they're just having a little bit of fun." Lucas answers, unable to keep from smiling as the couple dances on stage to the synthesized instruments as they play out the end of the song.

To his great relief, when Riley had returned to the room to get ready for the party, she had seemed just as eager to put their awkward moment of feelings behind them as he was. She'd given him what seemed to be a well-rehearsed speech about how emergency situations often amplified and distort feelings, that they were both probably feeling the effects of the adrenaline leaving their bodies after dealing with the clam shucking incident, and that they should move on as though that piece of the conversation had never happened.

Lucas had agreed, happy to latch on to a provided explanation that let him save face over something that was pretty much entirely his fault, and after a few small bumps in the road where he wasn't sure whether he should hold Riley's hand or have his arm around her shoulder as they walked into the party and similar moments of indecision, they're now back to the status quo of comfortable, easy interaction.

"Thank you everyone!" Ava waves and curtsies as the song ends while the crowd on that patio cheers. "And welcome to Cape Cod for our wedding extravaganza! We are so thrilled that you've all made the trip to share in my and Auggie's happiness, and that you've come a few days early to enjoy some of the beautiful sights the Cape has to offer and some fun activities."

Auggie takes over for her. "Now, one of the things Ava and I wanted to do for everyone over the course of the next few days is share the activities that we've spent our entire relationship enjoying together, with all of you. And the first of those, as you might have guessed by our little performance,"

"Our _flawless_ performance," Ava corrects.

"Is karaoke." Auggie finishes, quite obviously, in Lucas' opinion, used to being interrupted in such a fashion.

"That's right everyone! This isn't just a Welcome to Cape Cod party, it's also a karaoke party!" Ava screams and claps, seemingly oblivious to the mixed reaction she's getting from the crowd. Most everyone is cheering, but it's a lot less enthusiastic than they were when they were just applauding the performance or the welcome message. "There's only one rule, and that's that nobody gets to leave the party without getting up on stage at least once."

The cheers lessen even more, but Lucas is fairly certain that the crowd will perk up again once they've had real chance to get a drink or two in them.

"In a moment, I'll bring around songbooks to each of the tables so you can all make your selections and sign up." Auggie explains. "And you'll want to be quick about it-no one wants to listen to a night full of repeat songs."

"No one wants to hear a night full of karaoke either but that doesn't appear to be stopping you." One table over, Maya makes a not-so-muttered comment, though Josh, hand freshly-stitched and bandaged, hushes her soon after.

"And while Auggie's doing that I'll get this party started with one of my personal favorites. So pick your songs, find partners if you need them and let's have some fun! Welcome to Cape Cod everyone!"

Another synth-heavy beat kicks up behind Ava, who starts to dance, while Auggie hops off stage, grabs a large stack of mini-binders and starts to distribute them to every table.

" _Hey boy, don't you know I've got something going on? Yes I do._

 _All my friends are gonna come, gonna party all night long…."_

"So…" Lucas can't help but smirk as he looks at the rest of the table. "How does everyone here feel about this little surprise?" He's barely a step above tone deaf, but he can't say he minds the night's new obligation; what does it matter if he embarrasses himself a little? It's not like he's ever going to see these people again once he goes back to LA.

He and Riley chat with their companions at the table, the always entertaining Eric and Linda, who both seem incredibly enthused by the prospect of getting up on the mini-stage and singing their hearts out. Riley is not nearly so thrilled, he decides based on her expression, but she's not panicking like Lucas might have expected. He has to wonder if that's because this is actually quite typical of Auggie and Ava or for some other reason.

After Auggie drops off the small black binders containing all of their song options, and it takes about a minute for Eric and Linda to rush off to get their choice in the lineup because they 'weren't going to risk anyone else getting to their song first', Riley glances over at him in between page flips. "See anything you want to do?"

"I see a few songs I know." Lucas shrugs, not sure that he cares too much. "Did you want to do something together or-,"

"Actually, I have an idea. If you don't mind. As part of your," she glances around to see if anyone's paying attention, leans in close and whispers the last word, "job."

"I'm all ears."

* * *

" _Now it's nothing but my way._

 _My loneliness ain't killing me no more."_

Lucas has to admit, watching Riley sing her song, going after every syllable in a take-no-prisoners performance, and looking every inch the self-assured woman that had taken charge on the deck of the schooner, that her idea is the perfect choice for them tonight.

Apparently, after their conversation when she was taking a walk, one of the other things she had come to understand was that once she got over the initial panic of realizing that she had stood up to her mom, it actually felt really good to have done it. And now she wants to take a few more baby steps towards letting her family know that she's happy with her life.

Things like rocking out to a Britney Spears power ballad on a karaoke stage.

And when she's done with that, having her 'dedicated and handsome' boyfriend dedicating a song to her and putting on a bit of a show for everyone.

Well...Lucas is more than happy to do that.

Especially after she more than nails the execution of her part of the plan. Riley finishes her song on a high note, to the applause and cheers of Auggie and Ava's friends and some uncomfortable looks shared between many of her present family members. She bounces off the stage, a broad smile on her face.

While Auggie and Ava do their duties as hosts and MCs for the night, spouting off commentary on Riley's performance and starting to build up his, Lucas hugs her quickly. "That was great! How did it feel?"

"Amazing! That was so much fun! Why have I never done that before?" She laughs broadly, stepping back and twirling.

"Stay close for part two, OK?"

"And now to sing a song for his sweetheart," Auggie says, using his best TV presenter voice, "Mr. Lucas Friar!"

Lucas hops up onto the stage, grabbing the microphone and starting his song. He only has eyes for Riley as he sings the first verse (as though that's hard), and by the time he hits the chorus, he strides off the stage to grab her hand and start dancing while he sings, causing Riley to laugh and blush while they sway, twirl and even dip.

" _If_ _you'll be my soft and sweet, I'll be your strong and steady,_

 _You'll be my glass of wine, I'll be your shot of whiskey…"_

At the second verse, he takes her back up onto the stage with him, continuing to serenade her and guiding her through a one-handed dance, until they get they reach the end of the song.

" _If you'll be my sugar baby, I'll be your sweet iced tea,_

 _You'll be my honeysuckle, and I'll be your honey bee."_

As they dance out the end of the music, Lucas fumbles the microphone back into its stand so he can hold Riley with both hands. He twirls her out, and then in in rapid succession. She collides into his chest, and he can't help but notice the same sparkling, gentle awe in her eyes as they meet his.

The last chord plays and the crowd bursts into applause.

And with Riley's face barely inches from his, and feeling the joy and fun and the sparks that seem to be hovering in that small space, Lucas stops thinking completely.

His lips crash down onto hers.


	7. Chapter 7

Notes: ~12,000 words, several crises of self-confidence, pep-talks from angels on tumblr, and so many other things...I can now present to you Chapter Seven of Cold Cape Cod Clams.

One line in this chapter is based off of a text featured on Texts from Last Night, because I'm shameless and couldn't resist.

In this chapter, the karaoke party continues, Riley feels conflicted, and Cory brings his own special touch to the party.

* * *

It takes a moment to register in Riley's brain. Lucas' lips are on hers. Lucas' _lips_ are on _hers._ His one hand is at the back of her head, gripping her hair with his fingers. His other hand is on her elbow, drawing her closer still.

She and Lucas are kissing.

And not on the cheek like she thought might be necessary to maintain their charade, or even a quick peck on the lips that had been considered and quickly filed in the 'only in your wildest dreams Riley, now focus!' part of her brain. This is full-on kissing.

'Part your lips, go weak in the knees, and feel your heart freeze in your chest before it rushes back into action with a fluttery electric fervor' kissing.

When did this become her life?

It's all too easy for Riley to melt into the moment (this is _not_ the way she's used to being kissed) and to forget where they are and what they're actually doing. At least until the raucous applause and wolf-whistles of the crowd grow so loud that they cut through the pleasant passion-fog rising in her head. After that it takes all of half a heartbeat for Riley to remember they're on stage, singing karaoke at Auggie and Ava's party, that the only members of her family not present are her parents, and that Lucas is the escort she hired to be her date for the wedding not the man so seemingly perfect she might as well have dreamed him into existence, sweeping her off of her feet.

She breaks contact first, breathing heavily biting the corner of her lip to try and quell her furious blushing. It doesn't help, particularly when Auggie returns to his hosting duties, forcing his way into the space now between her and Lucas.

"Putting on a show for all of us, let's give it up one more time for the man putting the moves on my sister, Lucas Friar!"

The applause swells a second time. Lucas' hand finds the small of her back as they exit the stage and Riley wonders if it's possible for a person's cheeks to get warm enough to cook an egg through sheer embarrassment alone. It definitely feelslike it. Between falling victim to the moment and kissing Lucas for such a lengthy period of time, forgetting herself and actually _enjoying_ kissing Lucas, and the ribbing of the crowd, it's suddenly all too much, too fast.

This morning she still could barely contemplate talking to her family or most anyone else at this party without thorough preparation, planning of escape routes, and a general sense of absolute necessity and a little over twelve hours later she has not only started asserting herself and showing that she's actually _not_ just a broken little mouse fumbling away their every attempt to 'fix' her, but she's also started showing off. Grandstanding and _singing_ to give everyone a taste of how happy and strong she is now.

Never mind that the only source of happiness they're going to notice is the completely manufactured relationship with Lucas.

Never mind that this was never a part of the plan to begin with.

Riley can't help but be embarrassed by her actions. Lucas was just supposed to be a support tool for the week-someone to stand by her so she wouldn't have to face every stare and snide comment on her own. Yes, it was an added bonus that his presence might shut one or two people up or give them the impression that her love life is blossoming just as much as her professional life that they don't seem to care about has, but it was never her intention for their 'relationship' to be anything more than quietly solid in the background of the wedding festivities. He was supposed to help her blend in and what did she just do? Only everything she could to make them stand out.

They (and really just her) are going to be a big topic of conversation again for the foreseeable future, all because she wanted to show off. And to top it all off, Lucas had been so good at doing it (because it's his job, she reminds herself) that when he had been serenading her, staring into her eyes, dancing, and indeed kissing her, she had actually felt adored. Like she was the center of his world. So now she can't even think his name without her stomach doing a somersault and her heart trying to convince her that there was a genuine spark somewhere in that moment.

She could just about tunnel into the earth and die for how much she wishes she could go back in time ten minutes and rethink what she was doing.

"I'm sorry for doing that." Lucas' lips near her ear, softly speaking as they weave through the party back to the table, draw Riley out of her shame spiral. What on Earth does he have to be sorry about?

"For doing what?"

"Kissing you like that."

Riley stops in her tracks. Lucas is either apologizing because he thinks that she's so different and delicate compared to his other clients that he doesn't even consider kissing to _be_ a part of this particular job, or because he's noticed how incompetent she's been at reigning her growing feelings and hiding them and he's nice enough that he actually feels bad for exacerbating the situation even though it's really her that's putting him in an awkward situation. And either way, she's feeling off-balance enough, and tired enough, and (in ways that she's not sure she wants to examine too closely) secure enough with him that the very idea of the apology annoys her. "Why would you be sorry for kissing me?"

"I just mean, it wasn't fair of me to put you in that position. It's not something we've talked about and-," Lucas explains, keeping his voice soft. He reaches to take her hand, but Riley pulls out of his reach.

She knows she can't cause a scene and has to be mindful of her words, but she's done with this attitude Lucas seems to have adopted that somehow, she's different from all the other women he works with. To have him keep placing her in this separate category-making it clear that he's doing things differently with her than he normally would _because_ of who she is as a person-stings just as much as her family's dismissive treatment, and she's tired of maintaining her walls on both fronts.

Honestly, it would be so much easier to contain her own feelings if it felt like he _was_ treating her just like any other client.

"Lucas, kissing me is part of your job. As my boyfriend." She tacks on, thankful that it's at that moment the crowd is cheering the current performer's raunchy dance moves on. "I get that I'm probably a little different from the girls you've...dated in the past, but would you ever have apologized for kissing them in public?"

"Probably not." Lucas at least has the grace to look moderately hard-pressed and contrite as she calls him out. "I just don't feel right about getting-,"

Riley holds up her hand. "I know you appreciate how hard this week has been so far for me and you're trying to make it easier. But honestly, it's harder for me right now because I'm stuck constantly second guessing what I'm doing with you. I need you to just...be my boyfriend. Nothing more, nothing less."

"You're right." Lucas sighs, pressing his lips together. "I've been complicating things, and I'm sorry. For doing that, not for kissing you." He hastens to correct himself, the corners of his mouth upturning as he does so. "Forgive me?"

In spite of the emotional rollercoaster of the last fifteen minutes, Riley finds herself relaxing in the face of Lucas' smile. It's impossible not to, what with the soft glint that seems to show up in his eyes when he's looking at her. _Damn it. Boundaries, Riley. Boundaries._ "Of course."

* * *

"Oh, my goodness you two are just so cute together!" After a quick detour to the bar to grab some drinks, Riley and Lucas arrive back to the table to Linda's effusive chatter. "I know you weren't actually singing together but Lucas, when you brought her up on stage to dance with you...oh! And that kiss! I swear, I could have just melted right there."

Eric, with his arm slung around his wife's shoulders raises his drink in a salute. "She's right. The both of you were good. Not as good as we're gonna be when we get up there and recreate the first dance from our wedding, but good."

Riley, feeling on more even footing than she had prior to her conversation with Lucas, thinks back on her uncle's hodge-podge of a wedding, marred by weather disasters and a general comedy of errors, and can't help but grin; the party won't know what hit them. "Are you going to do the actual first one, or the official one from the reception?"

"Oh, we're doing the actual first one." Eric nods emphatically. "That one was the real representation of our relationship, after all."

"What am I missing?" Lucas glances between Riley and the couple. "What was so special about your first dance?"

"Our wedding was..." Linda trails off, searching for the right phrase. "A hilarious disaster. It was storming, so everyone's hair and clothes got wrecked, we got evacuated because of a risk of flash floods, and about five hundred other things that went wrong. But Eric and I were determined to get married anyways. So, in a storm shelter full of strangers, we had our notary perform the ceremony."

Eric jumps in. "And of course, the most important part of any wedding after the vows is the cake. Followed by the first dance. But we didn't have any cake so we had to skip right to the dance. And without the band we had hired-,"

The strains of the next karaoke performer start to get louder, interrupting Eric's explanation.

" _No chance, no way. I won't say it no, no._

 _(You swoon, you sigh. Why deny it, oh oh?)_

 _It's too cliché, I won't say I'm in love…"_

They all glance towards the stage to see who's performing, temporarily forgetting that their conversation. Riley vaguely recognizes the petite brunette in dark-framed glasses as someone she's seen on Farkle Minkus' arm at events over the past few years, but not enough to remember her name, or if they have even been introduced to each other. Farkle still tends to shy away from her on most occasions.

Her own recollection on the subject is cut short. Lucas, who's sipping his drink when he turns to look, seems to gasp in surprise (at least that's what she thinks happens since his eyes widen a little too) while he's drinking, causing him to cough and sputter. She reaches over to thump gently on his back a couple of times. "You OK?"

"Yeah." Lucas nods coughing twice more for good measure. His cheeks are red and eyes a bit watery but that seems to be the end of it. "Just caught myself off guard with that sip. Went down the wrong pipe."

Riley has to wonder what the actual explanation is because there's no way that someone as smooth and together as Lucas actually just...took a sip before he was ready to. That's the sort of thing she would do as a certified klutz, but not him. Something else must have happened, but Lucas changes the subject before she can ask.

"So... you were saying about your first dance?"

* * *

" _If you see a painted sign at the side of the road, that says fifteen miles to the -,"_

" _LOVE SHACK! Love shack yeah, yeah._

 _I'm heading down the Atlanta highway…"_

In the face of Linda and Eric dancing...well, the kindest word for it would be enthusiastically, on stage and belting the B-52s at the top of their lungs, Lucas blinks. "This is really the first song they danced to at their wedding?"

Riley can't help but laugh. Even when they hear the story of Eric and Linda's impromptu wedding, most people don't believe it. At least unless they've gotten to know the happy couple. But people know that Eric is a Senator, and they recognize that even though he seems a little quirky and tends to simplify the issues as he talks about them, so they assume that he has some level of tradition and decorum instilled in him. Then they get to know him and realize that when he's happy-when he's full of exuberance and love and joy-there's not an ounce of tradition in him. And Linda is usually more than happy to follow. "They didn't have a band or a DJ with them in the storm shelter, they had the radio. It was the first song that came on. So... it's their song now."

"What was their first dance supposed to be? If everything had gone right?" Lucas asks.

"They won't tell anyone."

Riley stiffens involuntarily at the newcomer to the conversation's voice. Her grandmother has always been loving and doting (in many ways more so than her mother has) but she's equally hard to please. Her displeasure with Riley's path in life has been slightly subtler than that of Riley's parents, but nonetheless, it's been easy to notice.

"They were going to surprise everyone anyways, and Linda insists that every that happened was meant to be, so talking about what they were planning is a waste of time." Amy Matthews continues, as Riley and Lucas stand and turn to greet her. Alan is next to his wife, awkward as ever with his hands in his pockets.

Not that _that's_ particularly surprising either. Like father, like son, grandpa Matthews hadn't known how to handle his granddaughter turning out to be a girl, even after going through the process with his own daughter (though Eric swears things were just as bad when Morgan was growing up so in this case, Riley knows it's not specifically a _her_ thing, just a Matthews' family trait seemingly carried on the 'y' chromosome).

"The two of you looked very happy up on stage." Her grandma says after a perfunctory greeting has been exchanged and they're all sitting at the table.

"I'm glad it comes across because we _are_ very happy." Lucas lays his hand across Riley's on the surface of the table. "Riley's the best thing that's happened to me in a long time."

It's a small gesture, but Riley can't help but marvel at how it helps her relax. There's a large part of her worrying over what her grandparents have really come over to say (that it's actually just to compliment her and Lucas is beyond unlikely) and the reassurance that someone is here with her to back her up-that _Lucas_ is here to back her up-quiets the worry in ways that she's not used to. She's quick to smile at him to show her appreciation. "What about you and grandpa? Will we be seeing the two of you up there?" The answer to the question is unlikely to be yes which is, a bit unfairly, why Riley chose to ask it. Her grandmother has a lovely voice and is in no way averse to showing it off once in a while, but her grandfather would probably rather undergo a root canal; Ava may have decreed performance a condition of attending her party but if there's a way around it, Alan will surely find it.

Indeed, Riley's grandfather raises his drink to his mouth. "We're still exploring our options."

AKA, finding a way out of doing it at all.

"Well, I'm sure whatever you land on will be great."

Amy accepts Lucas' compliment gracefully and then, as expected, she moves to change the subject as Linda and Eric's performance gets a touch louder.

" _Sign says, 'Stay away fools!'_

"' _Cause love rules, at the Love Shack…"_

"Anyway Riley, we really wanted to come over to talk to you about what happened out on the boat today."

Riley relaxes a little more. That's doable and familiar. People witness what looks like a medical emergency get handled by a professional and they like to talk about it, to say how cool it was or to sing some praise of the professional. Most of the time she sees it happen to the doctors she works with, but she's gotten it once or twice too, and if that's the conversation her grandparents want to have she can get through that a lot easier than the subjects she was anticipating.

"The way you handled everything out there was very impressive." Her grandfather begins. "Things were chaotic but you kept your cool and got everyone else to calm down and do what needed to be done."

Riley starts to demur the comment, firm in the belief that doing things she has trained and studied for isn't particularly impressive, but her grandmother speaks before she can get much out.

"And I really think it was a wonderful gesture."

"A gesture." Riley blinks, unsure of where her grandmother is going with such a comment. Her stomach starts to clench with the sudden flip to uncertainty.

Her grandmother nods. "Yes, a very nice one. Rushing to your father and Josh's aid like that after being away for so long… Doing what you did was a wonderful way to say that you're done being stubborn and you're ready to apologize and start mending fences."

Riley nearly pushes away from the table for the way her stomach clenching turns to an icy element sitting on her chest at her grandmother's words. Of course she had made the wrong assumptions about the elder Matthews' intentions. They haven't given her praise without wanting something else attached in over ten years. "That...wasn't what I was doing."

Lucas starts moving his thumb, swirling soft circles on the back of her hand.

"Of course it was!" Her grandmother dismisses. "Rushing to their sides and doing what you could-,"

"I was just doing my job. I would have stepped up for anyone." Riley protests. "If someone needs medical help, it's my job to do what I can."

"But you're just a nurse. You hand out compresses to little kids."

Her grandmother couldn't have known that this glib disregard for what she does would be enough to flip a switch in Riley and make her go from hurt and uneasy to hurt and ready to do something about it (because Riley hadn't known either) but flip a switch it does. "Actually grandma, nurse's work incredibly hard and there's no such thing as _just_ a nurse. And furthermore, I'm not _just_ a nurse. I'm a nurse practitioner in a pediatric emergency room.

"That means I have my master's degree. I can write prescriptions. Most of the patients I see are my own, not a doctor's who I'm assisting. I tell people the best news of their lives when their family member is going to make it and the worst news of their lives when I have to tell them that they're not. The injuries that dad and Uncle Josh were dealing with were nothing compared to the traumas that I see on a daily basis. So sure. I'm _just_ a nurse. I am damn proud to be _just_ a nurse."

For a moment, Riley thinks she's done, and breathing heavily, she watches her grandparents stunned reactions. But when she notices her grandfather opening his mouth to say something, she finds a few more words. "And by the way, you would know all of that if you spent even one iota of the time you spend lamenting the fact that I don't just blindly follow my parents' example listening to me instead. But I haven't had the same best friend since I was five, and I haven't married my childhood sweetheart, and I know until I do, I might as well just be any other nurse in the world to you, not your granddaughter.

"So as just another nurse, let me make it clear. What I did today was my job, not an olive branch. And given how this family has treated me the last twelve years, believe me when I tell you that you won't be seeing any grand gestures coming from my direction. Not when I know the reception I'll get."

Riley stands, holding onto Lucas with one hand and grabbing her drink with the other. She starts to walk away, more than happy to take the route of retreat in order to avoid dealing with whatever fallout standing up for herself might cause. Particularly now that it's the second time in a single day that she's done so without facing many consequences. She knows her luck and that this is not it. The other shoe will drop eventually and while Lucas' pep talk earlier covered a little bit of ground as to why she should be OK with it if and when the repercussions come (and maybe contributed to this instance of bold attitude and speaking her mind) a few wise words from a guy she's only just getting to know was never going to undo a lifetime's worth of aiming to please.

So Riley grabs Lucas and tries to flee before either grandparent can formulate a response.

After they make it a few steps away and Lucas has caught up so he's walking next to her instead of trailing behind her, he leans in, smirking next to her ear. "I can think of a gesture or two you could give them."

"Lucas!" Riley admonishes, although she's unable to contain her giggles as she imagines the proposed scenario. Her family would be shocked. And horrified. And if she were the sort of person who did that kind of thing, it would be pretty funny. At least for a second or two until her manners and guilt caught up with her. "You're terrible."

"I'm just saying…" Lucas starts to guide her towards a corner of the patio that appears a little less crowded. "They've kind of earned it. And it would fit with the whole badass thing you've been rocking all day."

If Riley had needed proof that Lucas is just saying what he thinks he should because she's paying him, this is it; no one in the history of _ever_ has described her as a badass. "Who have you been watching all day? Clearly it wasn't me."

"Oh, so taking charge at the scene of an emergency isn't badass? Telling off your mother while you're covered in your father's blood? That's not badass?"

Riley snorts. "You make it sound like I'm the one who stabbed him."

"No, you're just the one who was willing to take the future use of his hand into yours, if not his life."

Riley still can't figure out how Lucas gets that beautiful soft glint in his eyes, or how he can take something that she does every day and make it sound so special. It's an incredible trick.

No wonder all the reviews on his website were so positive.

"Riley, I know it's not always easy to see something that you do for work as something extraordi-,"

"There you are!"

A heavy hand clamps down on Riley's shoulder in time with the boisterous shout and she can't help but yelp and drop her drink in surprise. The glass shatters on the deck by her feet. She and Lucas both turn, with Lucas grabbing her forearm and guiding her to move behind him.

" _I_ have been looking _everywhere_ for you!" The enthusiastic visitor, Riley realizes a split second after her panic hits, is her father. "This place is _crowded_. Who knew Auggie had so many friends?"

Her dad is disheveled, to put it mildly. His injured arm is heavily bandaged, splinted in a sling. His shirt buttons are done up unevenly, his shirt isn't tucked into his pants properly… A glance down at his feet reveals that instead of shoes, he's wearing slippers. Riley can't believe her mother let him out of the hotel room at all after the day they've had, let alone let him out looking like such a mess.

"Dad, you just had surgery, you should be resting back at the-,"

"Surgery, smurgery." Her dad cuts her off, scoffing. "I wanted to come and see you. You _saved_ me today and we have so much to talk about."

Riley takes in the whole picture. Her dad's appearance, his unrestrained overenthusiastic tone, pupils the size of pinpricks… She sighs. He's not reacting well to whatever pain medication he's been prescribed for his injury. "Dad, where's mom? She needs to-,"

Her dad steps forward, moving his hand back to her shoulder. He glances from side to side, as though checking their surroundings, and lowers his voice to what he probably thinks is a whisper. "Shh! Topanga fell _asleep_. We have to be quiet so we don't wake her up. She doesn't want me to come here."

Of course.

"If Mrs. Matthews is asleep, how did you get here?" Lucas asks. He gently takes her dad's hand off of her. "You didn't drive, did you?"

"I called an Uber on my phone."

Riley opens her mouth to say something else, but Lucas shakes his head, warning her off. "An Uber?" He prompts.

"They'll pick you up from _anywhere_." Her dad enthuses, while Lucas starts to walk with him, guiding him to back towards the rest of the crowd.

Her dad continues to ramble, and Riley feels more than a little guilty for staying behind and leaving Lucas to find a solution to the problem (or at least someone to hand her dad off to), even though he had stepped up without her asking him to. She just has a feeling that if her dad gets the chance to have whatever conversation he's gotten it into his head that they have to have tonight, that things will just get messier; either her dad will say something awful while his filter is at less than full effect that he's restrained himself from saying sober and any hope of reconciliation that Riley's still holding in the deepest, most secret recesses of herself will be crushed for good, or with his inhibitions loose and his sense of self riding high from the weighty experiences of the day he'll try and fix things. Which wouldn't be bad if Riley thought he might actually mean it, or could guarantee that when the medication wore off his attitude wouldn't go right back to where it's been.

As it is, she doesn't want to, nor does she think she's in the place to risk the heartbreak that will come from either of those paths.

If her dad is experiencing some kind of turnaround and wants to make things better, actually _wants_ to talk things through and apologize, then they can do it when he's _not_ high on any prescription narcotics.

But Riley is 99.99% certain that he's not, and that conversation isn't anywhere close to being on the horizon.

" _Huggin' and a-kissin', dancin' and a-lovin' and a love shack…"_

Around her the party bursts into enthusiastic applause as Eric and Linda's performance comes to its conclusion. Riley quickly decides that if she works to help Lucas take care of her dad, by way of sending someone to help him, then she at least will be doing something and might feel a little bit better. She heads towards the stage to grab her Uncle and fill him in on the situation.

* * *

"Seen any good movies lately?"

"Nope."

"TV shows?"

"Not really."

"Well, I'd ask you if you've read any good books but I'm pretty sure with a guy like Lucas in your life any thoughts about reading before bed begin and end with the _Kama Sutra_."

Riley nearly chokes on the water she's been sipping anxiously as Linda's attempts at keeping a distracting and benign conversation going veer off course and catch her attention again. Her Aunt (in-law)'s valiant efforts to draw her attention away from the potential disasters of her dad's presence as it stands and to keep her from travelling too far down the path of blaming herself for the entire mess have not been entirely effective to this point; it's all too easy to get caught up in the worry of the unknown and get pulled into her own thoughts about it all. But Linda brings out the big guns with that comment and draws her right back to the moment. "Ha ha." She deadpans, glancing around the patio.

Farkle Minkus is on the stage, putting on an enthusiastic, athletic performance of ' _Don't Stop Me Now'._ Auggie and Ava are just to the side, waiting to resume emcee duties. Out in the crowd, things are busy and packed enough that Riley struggles to pick anyone out without taking extra time to really scrutinize the details. She doesn't think that she can see Lucas or Eric or her dad anywhere, but it's not very comforting when she's a) not positive that that's true and b) not sure what might be happening wherever they have ended up.

"I'm just saying…" Linda smirks, sending Riley a knowing look out of the corner of her eye. "You can't work the shifts you do, maintain your relationship, _and_ have time for Oprah's Book Club. And there's no missing the heart eyes he's been sending your direction all night so we know your relationship isn't suffering…"

Riley blushes at the implication. She's mostly gotten used to the winking implications about her relationship with Lucas (there's no denying that he's incredibly good-looking in what Zay would call a 'I wouldn't kick them out for eating crackers in my bed' kind of way, and no one at the wedding appears to be shy about talking about those sorts of things) but it's a little different with Linda, who for a long stretch of time was a sort of catch-all female in Riley's life, acting as a big sister/mother/best friend...whatever Riley had needed at the time. With all the history between them, _she_ might actually expect to hear some details.

Details that, of course, Riley doesn't actually have. She's not sure what she should do. Be semi-honest and just say that she and Lucas haven't gotten there yet? Lie and make something up? Her mind goes completely blank of rational ideas.

" _I'm a sex machine ready to reload!_

" _Like an atom bomb, about to oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, explode!"_

Farkle's lyrically appropriate dancing doesn't help matters.

"I, uh, well...I-,"

"OK, my idiot brother is safely in the hands of Shawn, who just needs the valet to grab his car so he can deliver Cory back to the bed and breakfast and what I'm sure will be the wrathful hands of Topanga." Riley is saved from having to truly answer Linda by Eric and Lucas' arrival at the table. "So, I am like, 97% sure we're in the clear and the crisis has been averted."

"I just don't understand what possessed him to come here." Linda comments as Eric and Lucas take seats. "I mean, I know he's never had the best reaction to pain medication but doesn't he normally just sit in front of the TV and get sucked into a marathon of _Unsolved Mysteries_ and get all paranoid?"

Lucas scoots his seat closer to Riley's. "Well, when he wasn't singing the name game under his breath, he was mostly just rambling."

A pit forms in Riley's stomach, sinking straight down to the floor. Lucas' statement is just vague enough to be obviously hiding something. "And what was he rambling about?" She clips out softly, starting to fiddle with the wrapper from her straw.

"Hard to say."

"Mostly nonsense."

Eric and Lucas answer in unison, and entirely too quickly.

Underneath the table, Riley aims a firm, but gentle toe to the shin of her Uncle. "And what would the average person listening to this nonsense hear?"

"Did you just kick my shin? I am a respected member of the United States Senate. I could sic the FBI on you for this." Eric's attempts at deflection are good, and with a different topic, Riley might go along with them, but she knows what he and Lucas are doing. Trying to hide something, probably to try and protect her.

Only she doesn't want to be coddled or protected. She _wants_ to know as much as possible about where she stands with her father. "I'll kick it again if you don't answer the question. What was dad doing here?"

It takes two more beats of silence for the men to answer her. In the end, Lucas is the one to step up to the plate.

"He was talking about...repairing your relationship." He sighs, finding her eyes. "Going on about how he never should have let you leave, and how he thinks you two have to fix things."

Well. That answers that question. Granted, Riley had already figured on it being the case, but having her suspicions confirmed doesn't do much to make her feel better. On the contrary, knowing just takes away the worry that Lucas and Uncle Eric were hiding something totally heinous from her and the sinking feeling makes way for a jumbled mix of uncertainty and annoyance.

"Because _that_ couldn't have occurred to him any other time in the last ten years." She huffs, flicking the straw wrapper across the surface of the table.

"Riley…" Linda draws out her name, with the sort of sadness peppering her voice that makes Riley's stomach turn for how much it sounds like pity.

"It's fine." Riley shakes her head, pressing her lips together. She wants to nip _that_ in the bud almost as much as she wants the night to be over with altogether so she can take five minutes to think about all of the myriad developments that have happened away from the pressure of actually interacting with people while she does it. She just needs to make sure Linda and Eric know exactly how OK with this she is, and the she can hopefully change the subject. "We all know he doesn't actually mean any of it, so there's nothing to be upset over."

The confusion on her Uncle Eric's face surprises her. He's always been her biggest-and at times her only-cheerleader when it's come time to distance herself from her parents and look at things without the added filter of the need for a parent-child relationship. Now he looks like he doesn't understand where she's coming from at all. "You don't think he means it?"

"I think he's emotional from experiencing a trauma and high as a kite and it's messing with his feelings and making him _act_ like he wants to fix things. He won't feel the same way when he sobers up." The words come out clinically; it's not easy to detach from the fact that the 'he' in question is her father, but Riley has forced herself to get better at it over the years. If she constantly looks at their actions while thinking of Cory and Topanga as her parents, it hurts too much. Her hopes float to the surface or everything feels more personal and she can't help but take it that way and crumble. It's better to separate herself when she can, particularly in situations like this where she has to defend her choices.

"Well, yeah, he's high right now," Linda concedes, "but it's lowering his inhibitions. I'm not saying you should talk to him until he's sober, but people sometimes need a push to say things that they're afraid to on a-,"

Riley cuts her aunt off. She's not going to get sucked down that road and if she can stop anyone else from going down it, she will. "When exactly has Cory Matthews ever needed a push to fight for the relationships he wants? Because I have heard all of the stories, and to my recollec-,"

"Damn it, Cory! When did you get to be so nimble?" From several tables away, Shawn's winded voice cuts through the noise of the party and interrupts Riley's thought.

They all turn to look. Sure enough, her dad is back. He's got one of the binders that holds all of the potential karaoke songs. Actually, he appears to have taken the binder out of the hands of Ava's maid of honor, and is flipping through it with gusto. "Nobody told me this was gonna be a karaoke party. I _love_ karaoke! I've got to sing something!"

To his credit, although Shawn had apparently lost control of his charge at one point, he's trying to regain it, grabbing onto her dad's elbow and attempting to pull him away. "No, you've got to come with me back to the bed and breakfast. Topanga's waiting for us."

"I'm not going anywhere." Her dad protests. "I came here to talk to Riley and I'm not leaving until you people stop hid-,"

"O-K." Lucas says a little too loudly, drawing her attention away from the sloppy rant. He loops an arm around her shoulders. "I don't know about you but I am dying to get my hands on something with chocolate. Why don't you and I go take a look at the dessert bar until things get a little less...crowded?"

The ease with which Lucas can manipulate a situation, from changing a topic of conversation to removing someone from a situation is something Riley can't help but marvel at. Especially when he just seems to know it's needed without any nudges or prompting. He seems to just know how to navigate these things.

"Yeah." Riley nods, speaking softly. Being just as eager to avoid defending her belief that her dad doesn't actually want to fix things to Eric and Linda as she is to avoid her dad realizing she's there and trying to talk with her again, she's more than happy to go along with Lucas' diversion. "Something with chocolate sounds perfect."

They receive no argument from Eric or Linda, just a set of understanding nods, so Riley and Lucas stand and start heading towards the opposite area of the patio. As they walk, Riley can just hear her dad's boisterous, insistent comment to Shawn.

"This place doesn't have the Theme from Ghostbusters. I'm just gonna have to pick something else, and sing the words to the Theme from Ghostbusters."

* * *

"You know, we don't have to stay." Lucas says as they arrive at the dessert spread. Although the suggestion had probably been primarily made as a polite excuse to escape the scene and serve as a small distraction, Riley had quickly decided that the day had been enough of a roller coaster _before_ the party had started with its singing and kissing and fighting (and now the grown-up version of hide and seek) that she had more than earned a trip to the sugary buffet table to load up a plate, indulge, and bury some of her feelings under a mountain of ganache. When given the chance, she had made a beeline for the sweets. "We've been here nearly two hours and we both did the karaoke thing… Auggie's not gonna blame you for cutting out early when he hears about the stuff with your grandparents and the thing with your dad…"

Riley shakes her head. She can't leave. It doesn't matter the circumstances and whether or not people know about them, if she's the first to leave the party, especially if the rest of her family is still there, it will just be more fodder for everyone. They all love to talk about how she runs from things and leaving this would be one more example. She won't add fuel to that fire. Not after fleeing the welcome party their first night here.

And she definitely doesn't want Auggie to hear anything about the fight with their grandparents, or their dad's behavior.

Especially their dad's behavior.

"We're not leaving. And Auggie's not finding out about any of this." She answers firmly, grabbing a plate and starting to survey her prospects.

"I get why you don't want to leave," Lucas concedes after a moment's thought, "because you'd never hear the end of it from some of these people." And as he loads his own plate with a variety of mini cupcakes, Riley notes the hint of annoyance (or is it disgust?) in his voice, but it shifts just as quickly over to curiosity. "But why shouldn't Auggie know about what happened? It's his family too."

"Exactly." Riley glances over and sees that Lucas' expression is still fairly puzzled. She sighs. "First of all, Auggie loves them. He understands why I don't get along with them, but he hasn't had the same problems with them that I have and I'm not going to do anything that might spoil that for him. Especially the week of his wedding.

"Second, Auggie still thinks that someday my parents and I will work things out. If he gets wind that my dad was trying to talk to me and ' _fix things',"_ Riley makes finger quotes with her free hand, just to make sure Lucas knows how much she thinks the entire thing is total crap, "then he'll think the same thing that Uncle Eric and Linda obviously did, and he won't understand why I don't agree and won't indulge in the conversation."

With their plates loaded down with desserts, they start to walk, seeking out a free space that won't leave them too close, or too far, from the crowd. "And why exactly is that?"

Riley nearly clenches her jaw; she didn't really think Lucas would question her or try and make her second guess herself over this. He's been on board with all of her other decisions and reasoning, and for him to do so with this, arguably the hardest one for her to make and stay firm on, stings. She's grown far too used to having his support.

"I'm not trying to change your mind," Lucas clarifies as they reach a tiny, bar-height table top without seating and set their plates of sweets on it, "I just want to understand where you're coming from."

The hurt laps back. Riley takes a settling breath, and searches for the right words. Of course, once she finds them, it's difficult to hold them back or to _stop_ finding them. "The very idea that someone can only express their feelings about or to another person if they're drunk or high is not nearly so endearing or sweet or exciting as people like to act like it is. At best, it's awkward and sad. _At best_. Because they're either hiding their feelings because they know they're in some way inappropriate or they haven't said anything because the feelings don't actually run that deep or even exist at all, being altered just takes away the person's filter, and come the glaring reality of sobriety, everyone is going to be confused and disappointed."

"And you think your dad falls into the second category?" Lucas probes.

"Well, I know he's not a heartbroken suitor on a tv drama who thinks he has to stay quiet about his feelings because I'm happy with someone else." Riley stabs at a mini-cheesecake with her fork, carving off a bite but making no move to eat it. "Look, you can ask almost anyone, and they'll tell you how naive I am because until I'm proven wrong I'll believe the best in people. And for all of our differences, I still talk to my family regularly. There's no reason for him to think that I wouldn't give him a chance if he came to me and wanted to genuinely make an effort to fix things between us."

"Maybe he doesn't know how to do it."

It's almost a fair enough point. A parent is supposed to take the high road and love and care for their child regardless of what happens and if her dad realized he had fallen short of that goal, he probably _would_ struggle to know how to handle it. Only there are options other than talking. And it's really only almost a fair enough point if you don't know Cory Matthews or his history with other problem relationships.

And Riley gets the feeling that Lucas thinks he's just having a conversation...just playing devil's advocate with the girl he's spending time with for the week, but she has to correct him and even explain it in this minor way makes her heart clench and lodge in her throat.

"Even if he didn't know how to say the words, my dad has had every opportunity to change the way he interacts with me. Over ten years of opportunities, actually. But he hasn't. And I know you don't know him, and you only know the few stories I've told you, but _I_ know him, and _I_ know them all. And I know that he fought harder to stay friends with Uncle Shawn's ex when they broke up in college than he ever has to talk to me.

"And _that's_ how I know he doesn't mean whatever this is tonight."

Riley could say more. She actually almost _wants_ to say more. That's how easy it is to talk to Lucas. There's something about how he listens; he barely even has to say anything, but the gestures he makes-the small nods and 'mm-hmms' and the brushes of his hand or knee against hers-make Riley feel so important and valued...like what she's saying matters and is being understood, that she could almost open up right then and there. She could tell him the whole story. There's a split second where she considers it.

At least until _they_ show up.

"Mind if we interrupt?" Her Uncle Josh, bandage on one hand, his other hand gripped firmly by a rather blank-faced Maya, approaches the table. He rocks on his heels as they stop and looks, to Riley's assessment, like he almost wants to be biting his lip. When they were kids, he would always do that whenever he was nervous.

"What I want hasn't ever stopped anyone before." Riley clips. She steps to the side, closer to Lucas. He wraps his arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer still until her side is pressed against him. "What do you need Josh?" She knows the question probably comes off as rude (she can't exactly keep the sigh or the exhaustion out of her voice when she speaks) but she can't really find the energy to pretend to care. She maybe could have managed after the encounter with her grandparents but the moments with her dad have drained her, and she knows for the rest of the night she'll have to leave every barricade she has up when dealing with family.

Josh swallows around his first breath, speaking on the second. "About what happened on the boat today. I wanted to tha-,"

"There's no need." Riley cuts him off. She's not going through _this_ dance again. Not twice in one night. "I was just doing what I trained for."

"Even so," Josh is not deterred, though he licks at his lips before he continues, "what happened today was a lot and you couldn't have been expecting it, and I know things between us and with you and your dad aren't the best… I don't want you to think that I don't appreciate the way you stepped up. So... thanks."

Riley feels Lucas' fingertips tighten on her shoulder, but he doesn't say anything, so she doesn't know exactly what part of Josh's comment he doesn't like. She knows which part _she_ doesn't like, she's just not sure it's worth diving into that rabbit hole. She presses her lips together, forcing her instinctual response back. "You're welcome."

It quickly becomes evident that Josh either didn't think that she would accept his gratitude so quickly, or he just didn't plan on what would happen when she did, because he doesn't say anything else. A beat passes. Then another. And then another.

"Seriously?!" Maya whacks the back of her hand against Josh's chest, not quite glaring at her husband, but close just the same. "You make me come over here because you just _had_ to talk to Riley and _this_ is all we're going to do? Thank her and stand here, catching the awkward?"

"I'm trying to be the bigger person." Josh hisses in return. As though they aren't standing a mere foot and a half away in total view.

"Well you succeeded." Riley says quickly, glancing down at the floor and working her jaw over the words. She doesn't bother to inject any tone or expression to make them convincing; this is just...going through the motions necessary to extract herself from the conversation without another fight. She's too tired for another fight. "So thank you for that. I think we're all set."

Now Maya is pretty much glaring at Josh. "I thought we were coming over here because you figured out how to get her back."

Riley's first instinct is to take a step back. The only reason she doesn't is Lucas' steady presence against her. _You figured out how to get her back_. As though she was a cherished possession lost in an ill-advised poker bet, and not, you know, a person who makes her own decisions.

"I had an idea." Josh replies. "But I didn't know if it would-,"

"Work?" Riley cuts him off, crossing her arms across her chest. "No, it won't. And I have to tell you, the single-minded tendency of everyone in this family to color their every interaction with me with an attempt to draw me back to the family like a little lost lamb isn't endearing me to the thought either." Riley feels Lucas brush his thumb on her shoulder in a reassuring squeeze, but her focus is on the expressions setting on Josh and Maya's faces.

In an instant, Maya's obstinate annoyance appears to shift and mold itself into a glistening expression of disbelief. "Riles, you can't really mean that."

"I've been saying the same thing since I left, Maya." Riley shakes her head, exhaling in grim, spiritless laugh. "It's just that none of you have been listening. Come on Lucas," she steps out of his embrace to grab at her plate, even though she no longer feels much like eating it "there must be some corner of this place where we can sit in peace."

Lucas follows her example without saying a word. His free hand finds her back and they turn to leave.

They make it two steps and Riley almost thinks they're home free. Neither Josh nor Maya are the sort of people who think before they speak; they both move based exactly based on what they're feeling in the moment and deal with consequences later, so it seems most likely that if they have anything to say, they already would have said it. Naturally, that's not the case, as in the middle of the third step, Josh's downtrodden voice cuts through the air.

"Wow, you really _do_ hate us now, don't you?"

And Riley's torn between anger and sadness. Because she just can't tell. Is Josh making some sort of play? An attempt at guilt-tripping her because the Riley _he_ knows would have been horrified at the implication that she hates anyone, let alone her family? The thought of the potential emotional manipulation makes her face heat up. And yet that there's a chance that he's being honest and thinks that she could somehow hate him (a concept that baffles her, even with their disagreements) and the very thought leaves her feeling so cold and heavy that the sadness wins out. She turns back around.

"Putting myself first is not the same as hating you. I could never hate you, Uncle Josh. Either of you."

"No, you just won't talk to us."

"Maya, I left because I was spending every ounce of myself on meeting everyone's expectations and being the perfect friend and perfect Matthews, and none of you noticed or cared what that was doing to me." Riley allows some of the rawness pushing at her being to bleed into her voice because to try and contain it all would at some point make her break. For so much of her life Josh was more like a beloved older brother than an Uncle, and her friendship with Maya felt deeper than anything she could possibly imagine; Riley's felt close to the edge all most of the night, tiptoeing closer and closer with every fraught encounter, and this is just one more thing she has to deal with and fight against, lest it push her exactly where she doesn't want to go. "And I can tell from the way you talk to me that things haven't changed, and until they do-,"

"Oh come on, you left because you're a drama queen and things didn't work out exactly the way you had them figured in your head, and we weren't coddling you anymore so you had to throw a temper tantrum."

Maya's words stop the breath in Riley's chest, and she can't explain why. They're not any crueler than anything else she's faced over the years. They're probably not even the cruelest words Maya's ever sent her way if she really thinks about it. But somehow in this moment they take her back to a time when having her feelings dismissed and belittled by Maya still hurt.

She's a little surprised when Lucas leaves her side to step in front of her, directing a coldness in his gaze that she's never seen before at Maya. "You know, for someone who supposedly wants to reconcile, you're pretty rude."

"Back off Sheriff Woody, nobody asked you." Maya scoffs and rolls her eyes.

"Sheriff Woody?" Lucas repeats, blinking and staring blankly at his newly taken on adversary.

Not that Riley thinks they're becoming mortal enemies or anything. It's just that unless Maya has changed a lot since high school, she kind of sees everyone who doesn't do things her way or agree with her as completely against her and gets defensive, and with Lucas probably not inclined to pull any punches...she can see the way this conversation is headed.

"From Toy Story…?" Maya explains, but gets no reaction in return. "The cowboy…? Because you're some kind of goody-two shoes huckleberry from Texas…?" Lucas wrinkles his nose and shakes his head, but otherwise doesn't say anything, and Maya's exasperation wins out. "What? Are you so charming and perfect that no one's ever insulted you before?"

Lucas' eyes widen and his voice drips with barely disguised derision when he speaks. "Oh! That's what you were going for. Ok, yeah. No. I get insulted all the time. I just wasn't expecting a Pixar reference to be hurled at me but I totally get it now. I'll get right down on your level and shouldn't have any more trouble keeping up." The wink that he sends Riley's way, causing Maya's eyes to flash and Riley's heart to seize and flutter doesn't help matters.

"Now who's being rude?" Josh moves forward, squaring up right in front of Lucas.

A part of Riley worries that they'll fight; she doesn't think that Lucas, who appears to have an ironclad control over his every reaction from what _she_ can tell, would start anything but she also doesn't exactly see him blinking or backing off from Josh's posturing. And Josh…

Well, the Matthews' men have been known to lose their tempers and throw a punch on occasion.

"I'll give you two as much respect as you give Riley. You just have to figure out if you can dish out what you think _you_ deserve."

Maya shakes her head. "Look, there are two sides to every story and I don't know what pretty Princess Riley told you, but she's not some innocent victim in all of this. _She_ started the whole thing when made a choice and didn't ask any of us how we felt. And then when it all worked out she refused to be hap-,"

"I don't care." Lucas shrugs, cutting her off. His nonchalance only seems to bother the pair standing opposite more, particularly as he takes a step back and removes himself from the direct confrontation with Josh. "Riley's important to me. You two aren't. You can resolve any issues that exist between you on your own. Or not. As long as Riley's happy, I'm happy. But if you want respect from me, you'll show respect to her. End of story."

"Seriously, did you cast a spell on him or something?" Maya angles towards Riley. "Guys are _never_ this into you. Especially guys like _him_."

The words are another reminder of the cruelty of her past that Riley won't allow herself to contemplate. And she doesn't have time to. Maya speaks and Lucas blinks as he listens and it's like watching him shift into an entirely different person. His posture becomes stiffer, seemingly more solid, while he squares his jaw and takes a tiny step forward. His gaze becomes so hard and full of contempt that she can almost picture the actual flash of lightning going off in his eyes, acting as a warning sign to those who dare cross his path. And Riley might be imagining things but he suddenly looks _taller_.

"Do you want to repeat that?" He challenges, voice as forceful as the look in his eyes. And was that a hint of drawl, lapping at his words?

Riley is suddenly rethinking her assessment that Lucas might start a fight, and uncertain as to what his motivations for doing so might be, she is more than eager to remove him from the situation and calm him down. She sets her plate on a nearby table and reaches for his hand. "Lucas let's just-,"

"Oh come on, Riles." Maya teases with the sort of edge in her smile that makes it clear that it's not in jest at all. "Don't neuter him completely. Don't you want your handsome hero to rescue you from _Big Bad Maya_?"

"You're the only one here to ever ask to be rescued by someone, Maya." Riley snaps off.

"Right. You were just constantly running away from your problems. _So_ much better of you."

"Look." Josh edges himself between the two girls. "We're getting off track. We just came over here to try and get you to see that we still care about you. We want you back in our lives Riley."

Lucas follows Josh' action, standing tall over the older man. "Really? Because what I saw was a couple of bullies trying to emotionally blackmail Riley and chip away at her self-esteem until she felt like you were the only people she deserved. So if that's you being nice and making your case I'd hate to see you with someone that you _don't_ want around."

Josh shakes his head. "This is not a situation that involves you man, back off."

"And I already told you. If a situation involves Riley, it involves me. If you can't wrap your head around that, I'd be happy to talk a little slower for you."

Riley sees Josh's fist start to clench as Lucas speaks. She sees him start to draw back as the insult sets in. She contemplates the best method of interference to prevent bloodshed or a larger brawl, and settles on yanking on Lucas' hand as hard as she possibly can while she steps to the side, drawing him out of the line of fire.

Josh's momentum carries him straight into the dessert buffet. It, rather miraculously, doesn't collapse and cause a huge commotion, although his face does wind up directly in a pile of cupcakes.

At the same time, up on the stage, Riley sees one of Auggie's friends getting ready to sing his song. "Alright everyone," he says in a playfully smooth and deep lounge lizard voice, "tonight has been fun but it is time that we slow things down a bit. I want you all to find your lovers, head out onto the dance floor, and hold on tight."

Riley doesn't particularly care what song he's about to sing. It's as good an excuse as any to remove themselves from the situation before Josh or Maya attempt to retaliate. "That's our cue!" She starts walking, Lucas' hand still in hers, before anyone can question it.

* * *

" _And rain falls angry on the tin roof,_

" _As we lie awake in my bed…"_

Somehow, they actually do end up dancing in the middle of a small, crowded dance floor, half in the frame they've been practicing for the big reception number, but mostly just swaying back and forth, middle-school style.

This is _such_ a weird night, Riley thinks.

Continuously swinging from one extreme to the next. Dread, joy, confusion, rage...this party has had it all. Even a little bit removed from the near-fight with Maya and Josh, Riley can feel the tension bleeding out of Lucas' form. He hasn't said anything since she had maneuvered their escape, just allowed her to lead the way, brooding all the while, and Riley can't help but think that maybe intervening had somehow been a mistake.

"Was I supposed to let Josh hit you?" She asks quietly as they sway.

"What?" The question jolts Lucas out of his seething.

"You looked like you were ready for a fight, I pulled you out of the way when Josh started swinging...now you're all tense and sulking…" Riley explains. "Would you be happier right now if I had let Josh hit you and you could have thrown a punch his way too?"

Lucas shakes his head. "No, you did the right thing. I was baiting him and Maya when I shouldn't have been… We never even talked about how you wanted me to handle defending you. If I'm supposed to get physical or just be the bigger person, but they kept mouthing off and insulting you and I just saw red. They are-," Lucas drops off, briefly closing his eyes with a laughing exhale. "I know they're technically a part of your family but wow, are you _nothing_ like them. Have they always been like that?"

Riley tries to choose her words carefully. One thing that Maya said that was actually true was that there are two sides to every story. And as frustrating as she finds them and as much as she's been hurt by their choices over the years, it's not exactly fair of her to go and badmouth them behind their backs. "Maya's dad left her and her mom when she was really little, and she's always used sarcasm and insults as her first way of expressing and protecting herself. Even with people she cares about. So when things aren't going her way she tends to get a bit...nasty."

"And Josh? That Shawn guy? The rest of your family? What's their excuse?"

"Based on what you told me, I would have thought that you'd be pretty familiar with the behavior of a disappointed family." Riley knows it's a bit unfair to turn the conversation on its head and redirect it to Lucas, but she's not sure how much longer she can keep on talking about her problems with her family; not when Lucas has a tendency to point out the hard truths in completely reasonable ways and forces her to confront them. And definitely not after navigating all of the _actual_ confrontations that she's navigated today.

"When you disappoint the Friars, they call you a disgrace to the family name and then freeze you out entirely. From what I can tell when you disappoint the Matthews, you become the target of passive-aggressive attacks on who you are and everything you do."

" _And I've dropped out, I've burned up, I fought my way back from the-"_

"OK, OK, enough of the prom flashbacks. It's time for something important."

Riley can't come up with a response to Lucas' assessment of her family because the party comes to a halt. And the party comes to a halt because someone climbs up onto the stage and takes the microphone from Auggie's friend. A very familiar and unsteady sounding someone. She squeezes her eyes shut, letting her head fall forward against Lucas' chest. "I can't look. Tell me that's not-,"

"Do you want me to lie?"

"Oh god."

"I have been trying to talk to Riley all night." The man on the stage slurs into his stolen microphone. "Riley Matthews. You know, my daughter? That Riley?"

Riley isn't going to look. She can't. To look would be to acknowledge that this is actually happening and there's no way that this could possibly be an actual thing that's happening.

Maybe when the yacht hit those waves earlier, she had actually hit her head and this entire day has been a coma dream.

Yeah. That's a completely reasonable explanation. She'll go with that.

"And everyone keeps distracting me and taking her away from me. Like I don't have the right to talk to my own daughter."

Only Riley knows what it feels like when someone is staring at her. And slowly but surely, she feels sets of eyes boring into her as the party goers locate her and seek her reaction.

She doesn't have one to give.

She slowly pulls back from the safety of Lucas' arms but all she can really feel is the cold dread, sliding down over her like a dozen eggs cracked over her head. Riley turns towards the stage, heart seized in her chest; this is certainly one of many train wrecks she's been desperately trying to avoid. And it will be done live, in front of an entire party.

"But they don't understand. They don't get it. I just want things to be good again. And if I can't talk to Riley alone then I'll just have to do it here. Riley, I know you're out there, and this song is for you."

Her father starts to sing, and while the backing track from the performer he interrupted has halted, no music starts up for him.

" _We were as one babe, for a moment in time._

" _And it seemed everlasting, that you would always be mine…"_

Riley knows that her jaw falls open, completely slack. She can hear the party-goers' reactions-some shocked gasps and comments, some giggles-and is certain that there's probably also a lot of pointing, but it all seems to tunnel out around her in a blur; all she can see is her disheveled father, bumbling about the stage and belting horribly off-key into the microphone.

He's singing. To her. He's singing to her and everybody knows it.

The mortification rises, a freezing tide of panic and nausea, but Riley can't move. She can't _do_ anything. Not even look away. She's stuck, frozen and staring, too horrified and heartbroken and five million other things that she can't even begin to identify to do anything else.

"Why isn't anyone stopping him?"

" _You'll always be a part of me._

" _I'm part of you indefinitely…."_

Lucas' question goes unanswered.

Even if Riley knew the answer, and she doesn't, she couldn't speak if she tried for the lump lodged in her throat. Riley's no stranger to embarrassment; junior year was one giant experiment in indignity. But she'd rather go back in time and live through that whole mess ten times over than be at the center of this nightmare.

She's long given up on the hope that someday her parents would realize they missed her more than anything else and would try to make amends, but for a long time that was the dream. Not a sweeping romance with Prince Charming or being the best at whatever she chose to do, or winning the lottery and being able to help people without worrying another day of her life. Just...having her parents (or even just one) looking to make things right and rebuild their relationship. Riley had spent a lot of her time in senior year and college imagining what the conversation and reunion might look like, and while she stopped considering it a real possibility a long time ago, there's still always been a small part of her insisting that it _could_ happen.

Her optimism had been picturing heartfelt conversations, apologies, and tearful hugs.

Reality had given her fumbling, tone deaf public humiliation. And it's chemically altered and most likely insincere to boot.

Not that anyone else is going to see it that way.

" _But inevitably, you'll be back again._

"' _Cause you know in your heart, babe, our love will never end…"_

They'll see the same thing: a wounded, heartbroken father, pouring his feelings out onto the stage just to try and get his callous, uncaring daughter to talk to him again.

Never mind that it's only happening because he's high on painkillers (surely that just means he's been so upset that he needed a little extra courage to act on his feelings). Never mind that the song he's singing is wildly inappropriate (weren't you paying any attention? He's high on painkillers. His judgement's a little clouded). Never mind what actually happened to cause the split in their relationship in the first place (it was over ten years ago. Can't bygones just be bygones?). Never mind that nothing close to an apology has passed through his lips (whatever happened it had to be _her_ fault. He's already being the bigger person by making this gesture).

There's no winning after this. Of that Riley is certain. Everyone's either watching him or watching her, waiting to see what happens. And she can either suck it up and stifle all of her feelings to join her dad and earn the party's cheers only to return to the status quo in an hour or a day or however long it takes for the euphoric glow of the Vicodin to wear off, or she can listen to her gut and walk away, protecting herself but proving to everyone else that she just doesn't care about her dad anymore.

Both ways end with their relationship still stifled and distant. One just dangles hope in front of her face and makes everyone like her for a little while before yanking it away again.

It's probably not worth it.

" _Oh, don't you know you can't escape me._

" _Ooh darling, 'cause you'll always be my baby…"_

"What do you want me to do?" Lucas asks, sliding his hand down her arm to wrap her fingers in his.

With a touchstone drawing her back from the cold and her thoughts, Riley's struck by two things: the uncertainty and the agonizing pounding of her heart.

She doesn't know what to do. Lucas has so far done everything she's asked of him, so she could send him up to the stage to drag her dad off and put an end to the performance but doing that wouldn't really _end_ anything. Everyone's watching and waiting, and that's not going to go away now that the idea is out into the universe. What comes next is going to be the conversation point whether her dad's on that stage or not, and whatever she chooses is a no-win answer and Riley just wants to cry because none of this is supposed to be happening.

Her reunion with her parents was never supposed to be like this.

Her _relationship_ with her parents was never supposed to be like this.

But it is, and now there's no masking it out of politeness. Everyone can see it in its full fundamentally broken and ugly glory. And it hurts. More than she would have thought considering she's been dealing with it for over ten years.

Maybe it's because she's tired or maybe it's something else, but whatever the reason, this suddenly feels like a fresh wound and Riley doesn't know what to do.

"I-," She starts and breaks off just as suddenly. Her voice cracks, wet and tiny and weak and that's not the sort of thing she even lets her best friend hear most of the time, let alone a deck full of partygoers or a near-stranger fake boyfriend; Riley can't move forward without at least trying to swallow that down and be strong. "I think I'm ready to go back to the hotel now."

"We can do that." Lucas nods. He starts to navigate them through the throngs of people, drawing her closer when the partygoers notice and start variations on pointing, commenting, and giggling.

Riley leans into the embrace, trusting Lucas to guide her and deal with anything else that might come into their path. She draws from his steady warmth and gentle presence, keeps her eyes on the ground as she walks, and doesn't even realize that she's lost the battle with her tears until her vision becomes so blurry that she can barely tell when her feet step in and out of view.


	8. Chapter 8

Notes: Is this the direction I was originally planning on? No. Is it long enough to really be considered a chapter? Probably not. Am I happy with it and posting it anyways to give myself a little victory? Abso-fucking-lutely.

Please be aware I'm going to smack a general content/trigger warning on this chapter, for some non-graphic, veiled references to depression/suicide/death.

In this chapter, the show continues and Lucas makes a mistake.

* * *

" _And we'll linger on, time can't erase a feeling this strong."_

Outside of his grandfather, Lucas has never had a great relationship with any member of his family. They wanted him to be stoic, strong, and excel at the family businesses, and when he wasn't any of those things (at least not in the ways that they deemed acceptable) they made their displeasure known quite clearly. If they weren't lecturing him behind the closed doors of the family ranch and calling him every manner of a disgrace to the family name, they were freezing him out and ignoring him entirely.

In the privacy of his own therapy, Lucas would even be willing to admit that he hates them for what they put him through and the tough decisions that they forced him to make.

And still, watching the stilted, off-key karaoke tribute to Riley that her father is fumbling through, Lucas is suddenly incredibly grateful that he was born to the Friars, and that Friars don't participate in spectacles.

He has no idea how Riley is able to stay in the face of such brutal humiliation.

Granted, she's strong. Lucas knows that. There's a certain courage and resolve that a person needs to step away from the world they grew up in and forge a new path for themselves, and that's not a fire that just goes away. It's tucked away somewhere inside Riley, most likely fuelling every moment thus far of the trip.

Lucas knows Riley's strength. He knows her fire and her softness and so many of the pieces in between and he doesn't want to her to burn out any of it, dealing her mess of a family.

He slides his hand down around hers, weaving their fingers together. "What do you want me to do?"

It takes Riley a long moment to answer him. So long, in fact, that Lucas worries the pallor of her face and her glassy, unblinking stare are signs that she's actually slipped right through her horror and embarrassment into genuine shock. And then when she does speak, her voice is so soft and broken and it actually takes her more than once to get what she wants to say out without crumbling. It hardly makes him feel better about her reaction to her father's performance, and leaves him wondering how he's going to be able to help her. "I-...I think I'm ready to go back to the hotel now."

"We can do that." Lucas draws her as close as he dares, wrapping an arm around Riley's shoulders, and starts navigating the crowd. He stands tall as they walk, schooling his expression carefully; he knows with the right posture and expression on his face he can come off as an intimidating kind of guy, and he is more than willing to use that to his advantage if it means getting out of there before anything somehow manages to get _worse_.

It mostly works. Riley leans into him as they walk, and although most of the partygoers who don't have their phones out to film Mr. Matthews massacring Mariah Carey are instead seeking out Riley to stare, point, and snicker at, none of them are actually brave enough to approach and say anything to her face. Auggie is the only person to look like he might dare, and even he hesitates enough that they blow past him. Eventually some of the smarter guests start to clear a path for them. All Lucas has to do is keep Riley upright and guide her out.

The singing cuts out when they're almost at the exit and Lucas can't help but feel a little relief that someone is finally stepping in to put a stop to the situation, even if it is far too little too late. If someone had just gotten up there at the start of the little show, or better yet before Cory had managed to get going at all, Riley would have been spared being the center of another drama and might have managed to enjoy the night in spite of the smaller spats earlier.

Of course, the silence is almost immediately broken by Cory blustering in protest so...the relief is quite short lived.

"No, I _have_ to finish. Riley needs to know this."

"Cor, you've made your point. I'm sure that-,"

"No, _no_. You're always doing this. _Always_ interfering."

It's Eric's voice that Cory cuts off and Lucas is only a little surprised when Riley pulls out from under his arm and turns to see what's happening now; given that her Uncle is one of the only family members it appears that she's actually still close with, it's practically a given that she'd put aside taking care of herself to see what happens between him and her dad.

When Lucas turns around Cory is still ranting, shrugging out of Eric's attempts to grab onto him and guide him off the stage.

"-acting like you know Riley better than me. Like you know what's best for her better than I do. Well you don't, Eric. _I'm_ her father. Not you. Not. You. And I know she needs to hear this."

It's hard to miss the shadow that crosses Eric's face at Cory's words. Harder still not to notice the low, cold edge that invades his tone when he replies. "If you want to be her father so bad then fucking act like it. Get off the stage and sober up before you do something you won't be able to fix."

"Well if _you_ want to be a father so bad how about you man up and have some kids of your own and stop stealing mine."

Riley's hand flies to her mouth with a choked gasp. Around them the crowd titters. Lucas notices several guests still have their phones out, filming the whole encounter as disheveled Cory squares up in front of his brother, and he's torn between grabbing Riley and resuming their exit or getting up on the stage to put a stop to things before they get worse; the last thing anyone in the family needs is for their dirty laundry to be spread across the internet (and with a sitting senator involved it would certainly only be a question of _when_ it goes viral, not if).

Eric speaks again before Lucas can decide, losing a lot of the restraint that had been keeping his temper even. "Just because Riley decided she'd rather spend her time around the family that let's her live the life she wants to instead of following in her dad's ridiculously high-standard footsteps doesn't mean anyone's stealing her from you, Cor. It means you're a shitty father."

"Everything was _fine_ until you got involved." Cory shoves at Eric with his good hand; Eric steps back, though Lucas is certain it's more out of surprise than anything else.

"You're the one who called me!"

"Yeah. To give Riley the Mr. Squirrels lesson! 'Lose one friend. Lose all friends. Lose yourself.'" Cory follows Eric forward, staying squarely in his space and gesturing wildly. "The choices Riley was making were gonna make her lose her friends. You were _supposed_ to get her back onto the right path! Everything would have been fixed and back to normal in a couple of days if you had just done your stupid wise idiot routine, but _no._ You had to stick your nose in family business and sweep Riley away from us!"

"If I hadn't convinced her to leave, you wouldn't even have a daughter!" Eric steps back, swinging his arm to bat away Cory's pointing finger.

The momentum sends an unbalanced Cory to the ground. He just narrowly avoids landing on his injured arm. The party falls dead silent.

A part of Lucas knows he should leave. He should look away from the fight, grab Riley and get her out before anyone else can notice. There's no point in subjecting her to the aftermath of whatever this winds up being and no matter what Cory and Eric let slip, it's unlikely that she needs to hear it. That's if she doesn't already know it. No, the responsible thing to do, the professional thing to do would be to get his client out of there and find out what, if anything, he can do to help her deal with the aftermath.

But a part of Lucas is also curious. Riley's been _so_ close-mouthed about her past. And yes, it's not really his business, considering they're not really dating...they're not even really friends because that's not what he _does_ with clients, but he's done a lot of things with and for her that he wouldn't normally do with clients. He just can't seem to maintain his professional walls around her.

This is no exception. The part of him that's curious teams up with the part of every person's brain that keeps them unable to look away from horrific disasters and keeps him staring at the Matthews on the stage.

"Bullshit." Cory spits, fumbling to get back on his feet. Everyone is too preoccupied with watching the entire trainwreck to move to help him.

"What? Can't handle the truth?"

"Riley wasn't...She wouldn't have… She was _fine!_ "

"She was broken, you just didn't want to see it!" Eric counters. "What you and Topanga and everyone else was doing was killing her, but her misery didn't fit with your picture perfect plans so you ignored it. You pretended it wasn't there and that she was just being difficult, because god forbid things don't work out the way Cory Matthews wants them to."

"You're just-,"

"I stepped in," Eric interrupts, clenching his jaw as he swallows around his emotions, "and convinced her to leave because she was barely a shadow of the Riley that I knew, and I was terrified that if I left without her it would have been the last time I saw her. So if you want to blame me, then fine. I took Riley away from you. But if you think for one _second_ that makes me the bad guy...we're done here."

Eric blows past his his brother and storms off the stage, shoving his way into the crowd and signalling the end of the confrontation.

Only the crowd has barely started buzzing, trying to decide who to look for or what to gossip about first when a primal roar cuts through the rising chatter and Cory runs, launching himself headfirst after Eric. He lands his target and they both go tumbling to the floor. The crowd is too deep to see what happens next, but Lucas can hear the agonized cry, indicating that executing a diving tackle didn't go too well for the man whose arm is in a sling.

Lucas turns to see if Riley is going to let the nurse in her take over once again and go to her father's aid. She's not there.

Shit.

His chest constricts. She's nowhere in his immediate eye line and the crowd is dense and full of brunettes. Unless he had been watching her move-and he hadn't even noticed she had left he was so caught up in the drama-he wouldn't stand a chance of spotting her. If she was even still at the restaurant at all.

Riley had had a deeply personal secret exposed. By one of the only people she trusts to a crowd of strangers and people that don't seem to like her very much, if at all. And he had been too busy trying to glean any information about her that he could to do what she had hired him to do and protect her from it. It's no wonder she had run.

And he hadn't even noticed.

 _Shit._


End file.
